The Hong Kong Institute of Qualified Environmental Professionals (HKIQEP) has now attained statutory status with the passing of the “Hong Kong Institute of Qualified Environmental Professionals Ordinance” (Ordinance No. 28 of 2024). This landmark legislation, published in the Government Gazette on November 8, 2024, establishes HKIQEP as an officially recognized statutory body within Hong Kong’s environmental sector.
Background
Given all the infrastructure and environmental-related initiatives that need to be implemented in Hong Kong as well as in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) within the next decade, it is important to address the question of whether we have the volume of quality skills and expertise to deliver on them.
Therefore, the Hong Kong Institute of Qualified Environmental Professionals (HKIQEP) was established in 2015 by a group of interested parties from the corporate sector, public sector and existing environmental professional institutions, not only to address this challenge, but to turn this into an opportunity for Hong Kong. We aim to transform Hong Kong into a center of excellence in professional environmental services that is aligned with and supportive of developing the environmental services industry as one of the pillar industries of Hong Kong. It can help to create more quality jobs for our future generations and further Hong Kong’s longstanding strengths in professional industries.
Our Strategy
The development of qualified environmental professionals shall start at least at the tertiary education level and be supported by a robust professional training and qualification/certification infrastructure, to support growing market demand.
The core elements of the strategy proposed are:
- Creating a market demand for qualified environmental professionals,
- Strengthening environmental tertiary education,
- Building a Centre of Excellence for Qualified Environmental Professionals,
- Nurturing cross-disciplinary environmental professionals.