Secretary for Environment and Ecology of Hong Kong, China and Governing Mayor of Oslo join C40 Steering Committee

Tse Chin-wan, Secretary for Environment and Ecology of Hong Kong, China, and Raymond Johansen, Governing Mayor of Oslo, Norway, have been elected Vice Chairs of the C40 Steering Committee, the governing body providing strategic direction for the global network of nearly 100 cities committed to addressing the climate crisis.

Secretary Tse will represent mega cities in Central East Asia and Governing Mayor Johansen will represent innovator cities across the global C40 network.

Tse Chin-wan was appointed as the Secretary for Environment and Ecology of Hong Kong, China in July 2022.

Tse joined the Environmental Protection Agency of Hong Kong in 1985, a year before it was reorganised to become the Environmental Protection Department (EPD). He had a variety of duties at the EPD at professional and senior managerial levels, including as Deputy Director of Environmental Protection and Under Secretary for the Environment. His expansive experience spans various areas of environmental protection, including law enforcement, computer modelling, environmental impact assessment and cross-boundary cooperation with the mainland. Most notably, he helped to spearhead the formulation of policies on air quality, waste management, climate actions and conservation. To combat climate change, Hong Kong, China has set for the city the targets to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050 and to reduce total carbon emissions by half before 2035 against the 2005 benchmark level. The strategies to achieve carbon neutrality have been set out in the Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2050 published in late 2021.

Secretary Tse said: “I am delighted to be elected as C40 Vice Chair to represent cities in the Central East Asia region. Hong Kong, China, has been an active participant in the global effort to combat climate change and is among the earliest cities in Asia taking climate action.

“The climate crisis demands a global response. Hong Kong, China, is fully committed to the implementation of the decarbonisation strategies set out in its Climate Action Plan 2050. I look forward to working closely with fellow C40 cities to overcome the climate crisis and build a more sustainable environment for our future generations together.”

Raymond Johansen was elected to the City Council of Oslo in 2015 and appointed Governing Mayor after establishing a City Government Coalition composed of the Labour, Socialist Left and Green parties.

Johansen’s city government was elected on a red and green ticket. Its main priorities are meaningful jobs for all, social equity and the fight against climate change. Under his leadership, Oslo has adopted the most ambitious climate targets set by any capital in the world, followed up with a broad range of measures spanning from slashing emissions from construction to getting more people to ride their bikes, cemented climate action through instituting climate budgets as a part of the regular budget, and achieved broad international recognition for the city’s climate leadership.

Serving on the C40 Steering Committee, Governing Mayor Johansen has three main topics of interest. First, he sees green public procurement as a key tool for city leaders to shift markets. Second, he is working to accelerate transport electrification. Third, he will push for good green jobs, knowing that meaningful jobs for all are key to a just green shift.

In addition, the Governing Mayor will continue leading a global effort on supporting C40 cities to develop climate budgets and promote clean construction, areas he has been a driving force in C40 for several years.

Governing Mayor Johansen said: “I am thrilled to be elected to the C40 Steering Committee, honoured to represent the C40 Innovator Cities, humbled by the vote of confidence and ready to push the agenda for accelerated climate action for all C40 cities. What a start to the new year!”

C40 is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities working to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis and create a future where everyone, everywhere can thrive. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities.