A rising star in the sustainable built environment

Chartered Environmentalist and CABE member Charles (Tsz Kai) Lam was one of five finalists at the Society for the Environment’s Rising Star Award in June. The Senior Sustainable Development Officer at Swire Properties in Hong Kong explains why this achievement furthers his career and why other members should take CABE’s pathway to achieving Chartered Environmentalist status. 

It was Charles Lam’s peers in the Chartered Association of Building Engineers’ Hong Kong branch – Fannucci Hui and Eunice Lee – who nominated him for the Society for the Environment’s Rising Star Award earlier this year.

Designed to recognise ‘outstanding individuals’ who have excelled in their recent work ‘to protect, preserve, or enhance the environment’, the Rising Star Award is open to professionals who are a Chartered Environmentalist, a Registered Environmental Practitioner or a Registered Environmental Technician. The main requirement, however, is that they must have been working in their career for less than 10 years. 

A strong contender

As a trailblazing building services and environmental engineer who can demonstrate strong environmental and sustainability credentials through his global work at real estate developers, Lam was a strong contender for an award that is highly competitive, attracting hundreds of applications from professionals worldwide every year.

As Lam explains, reaching the finals marks a significant step forward for him professionally because, as the submission requirements point out, applicants must be able to demonstrate an outstanding record in four main competencies – application of knowledge; leadership; effective communication; and personal commitment. In addition, they must provide evidence that they have achieved exceptional outcomes, for example, in advancing sustainability principles over the last year. He was also invited to become HK CABE Panel Assessor for SocEnv qualifications.

Since joining Hong Kong-based and internationally operating real-estate developer Swire Properties in July 2024, Lam has leaped at opportunities to build on his already extensive experience, expertise and knowledge in this field. 

As part of his application, which included providing a short video as well as portfolios of his work and a case study to demonstrate his leadership, Lam underlined his proficiency in achieving environmental compliance and sustainability at his current company and previous employers. 

Lam has a longstanding association with CABE’s Hong Kong branch

In the case of his current employer, he cited his experience in delivering sustainable development data management, including carbon, water, waste and energy data analytics and upholding an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS), his contributions to its Business Partners Sustainability Programme to effectively implement the company’s Supplier Code of Conduct and improve the data transparency, accuracy and reliability of the Scope 3 emissions generated from supply chain.

"My current work can really make a difference to protect and also enhance the environmental sustainability performance for the built environment for Hong Kong and also the global perspective because my portfolio is not just in Hong Kong," he explains.

Global exposure

"I’ve also had project experiences in Macau, Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, and Singapore. This award can give me more confidence to be a sustainability leader and this kind of global exposure can really help me to do my job, for example, in terms of the carbon management and how to manage the transformations from conventional buildings to green, healthy and smart buildings."

Lam’s award application also drew on previous expertise he had accumulated as the only Chartered Environmentalist at Shun Tak Holdings Ltd where he’d worked in his previous role.

Employed as Deputy Lead for the Group Sustainability Report for 2022 and 2023, his work included spearheading the company’s environment, social and governance (ESG) reporting and data assurance; leading on climate-related financial disclosures as part of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD); and making sure the business complied with environmental standards such as ISO 140001 EMS. 

He was also instrumental in introducing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the business, setting targets and outlining how to achieve them. For 2022 and 2023, Lam says his efforts helped to reduce Shun Tak Holdings Ltd’s scope one and scope two carbon emissions by 10%. 

"I enhanced corporate sustainability performance by integrating decarbonisation strategies throughout operations and supply chain ESG management, effectively elevating the company’s environmental stewardship," he comments.

In his DNA

Lam has a longstanding association with CABE’s Hong Kong branch thanks to his father, a Chartered Building Engineer with more than 30 years’ experience as a construction manager. It was his father who encouraged him to take an active role in CABE both at home and in the UK where he spent some of his time studying at Leeds Beckett University and learning about BREEAM, the British Green Building Standard, knowledge that he’s put to good use by adapting it for use on projects in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. 

After achieving a BSc (Hons) Building Services Engineering from Leeds, it was the publication of the United Nations’ SDGs in 2015 that really inspired him to move into the sustainability field and pursue a sustainable built environment career.  

Back home, Lam explains how he began to work on mega projects after he joined Brilliant (Man Sau) Engineering Ltd in 2019, moving up from a ‘hands-on’ role to securing more senior management level experience. While employed as project team leader, one of the project’s achievements was Gold Award at the Hong Kong Awards for Environment Excellence in 2021. 

With a focus on high-rise buildings, his responsibilities as the Hong Kong Green Building Young Leader also included preparing submissions using a comprehensive green building assessment tool called ‘BEAM Plus’, developed by Hong Kong’s BEAM Society Limited, and adapted from the global version. 

Last year, he was nominated by the committee members of the Hong Kong SAR Environment and Conservation Fund & Advisory Committee on Water Supplies, winning the Outstanding Alumni accolade for his contributions to public service from the Asian Institute of Built Environment.

Now that being shortlisted for the Rising Star Award has given him the recognition he deserves for his work, what's next in his professional journey?

Lam admits that collaborative opportunities with forward-thinking organisations, especially around tackling climate action, ESG disclosure, decarbonisation and sustainable corporate transitions, are what most energises him. 

For this reason, he is actively looking to establish partnerships with the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) and Hong Kong Institute of Qualified Environmental Professionals (HKIQEP) so that he can continue to make an impact on sustainability issues.

Working with Fannucci Hui, the youngest CABE Fellow in the Hong Kong branch, he is also looking to develop communities or networking platforms to help new members achieve Chartered Environmentalist or Registered Environmental Practitioner qualifications. 

"My future plan is to continue to drive a meaningful sustainability impact, not only in my workplace, but also to contribute to wider society with my volunteer work," he says. 

"I also want to be one of the sustainability leaders in the corporate role strategies for decarbonisation and advance sustainability or ESG reporting standards, developing universal ones for industry."

For more information on CABE’s pathway to achieving Chartered Environmentalist status, click here.