Climate Adaptation & REsilience Conference 2026 (CARE2026)

Name: Climate Adaptation & REsilience Conference 2026 (CARE2026)
Start: 2026-10-08
End: 2026-10-10

8 October 2026 to 10 October 2026

Lecture Theatre B (LT-B), HKUST

Supporting the below United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:支持以下聯合國可持續發展目標：支持以下联合国可持续发展目标：

9.Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

11.Sustainable Cities and Communities

13.Climate Action

Building on previous CARE conferences, CARE2026 marks the third gathering in the series, an international platform dedicated to advancing climate adaptation and resilience through interdisciplinary dialogue and practical engagement.

The conference brings together governments, scientists, infrastructure operators, financial leaders, insurers, industry players, and community representatives to examine how climate risks cascade across interconnected systems, and how risk intelligence can guide preparedness, inform investment, strengthen decision-making, and enable coordinated adaptation across sectors.

CARE2026 is deliberately structured to reflect how climate risk unfolds in reality, from scientific insight to cascading system stress, and from system stress to societal and economic choices. It aims to strengthen collective understanding, clarify trade-offs, and support more informed and coordinated pathways toward climate adaptation.

For details: https://care.hkust.edu.hk/

Conference Structure

8 Oct, 2026 | Day 1: Early Warning, Climate Science & Urban Futures
A high-level, single-track plenary establishing a shared scientific and policy baseline.

Day 1 brings senior leaders, scientists, policymakers, financiers, and practitioners together around climate science, early warning, urban risk, biodiversity resilience, infrastructure systems, and finance, ensuring all participants engage from a common foundation of evidence and framing.

9 Oct, 2026 | Day 2: From Climate Signals to System Stress: Hazards, Impacts, and Choices

Day 2 examines how atmospheric signals unfold into cascading impacts — moving from episodic shocks to chronic strain.

The morning focuses on acute water-related hazards, extreme rainfall, flooding, sea-level rise, and landslides, and how they disrupt transport, drainage, energy, and essential services.

The afternoon shifts to chronic climate pressures - rising heat, humidity, and air quality - and how these accumulate across public health, labour productivity, urban liveability, and equity.

As episodic and chronic risks intensify, the discussion turns to governance, finance, trade-offs, and societal choices: when to invest, what to prioritise, and how adaptation responsibilities are shared.

10 Oct, 2026 | Day 3: CARE2026 Scholars’ Forum
The final day transitions from conference dialogue to research architecture.

Designed as a structured working forum, the Scholars’ Forum creates space to interrogate assumptions surfaced in the previous two days, compare analytical approaches, identify knowledge gaps, and build cross-institutional collaboration.

The Research Exhibition runs alongside the Forum, fostering intergenerational exchange and supporting future research, data-sharing, and joint initiatives.

Speakers

(Listed in order of appearance. More speakers to be announced soon.)

Image	Chin-wan TSE, BBS, JP Secretary for Environment and Ecology The HKSAR Government	Image	Prof. Celeste SAULO Secretary-General World Meteorological Organization
Image	Martha KESWICK Creator COPE Disaster Champions	Image	Prof. Xiaoye ZHANG Academician Chinese Academy of Engineering China Meteorological Administration
Image	Jagan CHAPAGAIN Secretary General International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies	Image	Dr. Estelle De CONING Chief of the Weather and Societal Impact Research Section World Meteorological Organization
Image	Prof. Soledad Garcia FERRARI Co-Chair of the Urban-PREDICT Project World Meteorological Organization	Image	Prof. Fei CHEN Co-Chair of the Urban-PREDICT Project, WMO Associate Head and Professor Division of Environment and Sustainability, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Image	Dr. Yamin HU Deputy Director of the Guangdong Climate Center Guangdong Meteorological Bureau	Image	Prof. Chi Ming SHUN, SBS, FRMetS Adjunct Professor Division of Environment and Sustainability, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Image	Clement CHEUNG, GBS, JP Chief Executive Officer Insurance Authority	Image	Ir Michael FONG, JP Director Civil Engineering and Development Department, The HKSAR Government
Image	Ir Ricky LAU, JP Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) Development Bureau, The HKSAR Government	Image	Ir Ringo MOK Director Drainage Services Department, The HKSAR Government
Image	Peter LEE Chief Sustainability Officer Airport Authority Hong Kong	Image	HO Wing-yin, Winnie, JP Secretary for Housing Housing Bureau, The HKSAR Government
Image	Dr. Siu Fai LEUNG, SBS Adjunct Professor Division of Environment and Sustainability, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Image	Dr. Samuel CHUI, JP Director of Environmental Protection Environmental Protection Department, The HKSAR Government
Image	Mickey LAI Director Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, The HKSAR Government	Image	Dr. Tim LI Chief Architect Hong Kong Housing Authority, The HKSAR Government
Image	Stephen SUEN Director Nature-Based Solutions Lead Sustainability Task Force, AECOM	Image	Prof Christine LOH, SBS, JP, OBE Chief Development Strategist Institute for the Environment, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Image	Dr. Erik BERGLOF Chief Economist Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank	Image	Prof. Yongjiu DAI Academician Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University
Image	Peter DAN Chief Risk Officer The Bank of East Asia (China) Limited	Image	Ronald YOUNG Head of Sustainability Banking Development Hong Kong Monetary Authority
Image	Bien WONG Assistant General Manager – Group ESG cum Executive – Group Knowledge Management Office The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited	Image	Prof. Christopher FREY Associate Dean for Research and Infrastructure College of Engineering, North Carolina State University
Image	Ir Dr. Raymond CHEUNG, JP Head of Geotechnical Engineering Office Civil Engineering and Development Department, The HKSAR Government	Image	Prof. Ju Neng LIEW Head Centre for Tropical Climate Change System (IKLIM) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Image	Sandy SONG Assistant Director (Development, Research and Administration) Hong Kong Observatory, The HKSAR Government	Image	Eddie TSE Group Sustainability Manager Gammon Construction Limited, Hong Kong
Image	Esther YUEN Chief Engineer/Land Drainage Drainage Services Department, The HKSAR Government	Image	Prof. Ollie JAY Director Heat and Health Research Centre, University of Sydney, Australia
Image	Prof. Alexis LAU, JP Tang Junyuan Professorship in Environmental Science Head and Chair Professor Division of Environment and Sustainability, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Image	Prof.Thanh NGO-DUC Co-Director of the LOTUS International Joint Laboratory University of Science and Technology of Hanoi
Image	Dr. Jerasorn SANTISIRISOMBOONS Assistant Professor RU-CORE, Ramkhamhaeng University	Image	Prof. Chao REN Professor Faculty of Architecture at The University of Hong Kong
Image	Paula DiPerna Author of Pricing the Priceless Former President-International of Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX)	Image	Martin NOBLE Chief Financial Officer Zurich Insurance (Hong Kong)
Image	Dr. Michelle WONG