Dr Christine Loh | |
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陸恭蕙 | |
![]() Christine Loh Kung-wai at theCWMC 2006. | |
Member of theLegislative Council | |
In office 1 July 1998 – 30 June 2000 | |
Preceded by | New parliament |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
Constituency | Hong Kong Island |
In office 11 October 1995 – 30 June 1997 | |
Constituency | Hong Kong Island Central |
Majority | 12,762 (30.7%) |
In office 8 October 1992 – 31 July 1995 | |
Appointed by | Chris Patten |
Personal details | |
Born | (1956-02-01)1 February 1956 (age 69) British Hong Kong |
Political party | Citizens Party (defunct) |
Education | St. Paul's Convent School Island School Bedford High School |
Alma mater | University of Hull (LLB) City University of Hong Kong (LLM) |
Christine Loh | |||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 陸恭蕙 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 陆恭蕙 | ||||||||||
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Christine Loh Kung-wai,SBS,OBE,JP, Chevalier del’Ordre National du Mérite (born 1 February 1956), is a formerHong Kong Legislative Councillor, founder and CEO ofCivic Exchange, founder of theCitizens Party, and founder ofHong Kong Human Rights Monitor. From 2012 to 2017, she was Under Secretary for theEnvironment in the government ofCY Leung.[1][2] From April 2019 to March 2020, she was Special Consultant to the HKSAR Chief Executive ofEcological Civilization and the Greater Bay Area, attached to thePolicy Innovation and Co-ordination Office.
Until her appointment as Undersecretary for the Environment, Loh was CEO of Civic Exchange, the Hong Kongthink tank that she co-founded in 2000. She received many awards, including "Stars of Asia" in 1998 and again in 2000 by BusinessWeek, "Hero of the Environment 2007" byTime[3] and "Woman Who Makes a Difference 2009" by RBS Coutts/FT in Women of Asia Awards.[4] She has worked in many areas, including law, business, politics, media and thenon-profit sector, but is best known as a leading voice in public policy in Hong Kong, particularly in environmental protection, sustainable finance, and governance reform.
In 2017, following the end of her official role, she became an adjunct professor in the Division ofEnvironment and Sustainability at theHong Kong University of Science and Technology, and is also Chief Development Strategist at its Institute for the Environment. In 2019 Loh released the second edition of her bookUnderground Front: The Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong, first published in 2010.[2][5]
Starting in 2018, Loh has been teaching a course on nonmarket risks at the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.[6]
Loh attendedSt. Paul's Convent School in Causeway Bay, and laterIsland School in Mid-levels, Hong Kong. She then went toBedford High School in the UK. She later attended theUniversity of Hull, andCity University of Hong Kong (Masters of Law in Chinese & Comparative Law) and theUniversity of Hull (Doctor of Law, honoris causa).
Loh worked for 12 years as a commodities trader (1980–1991), rising to become managing director at Philipp Brothers andPhibro Energy — the physical commodities trading arms of US multinational Salomon, Inc. (now Citicorp) — before joining a Hong Kong company (CIM Co.), where she headed the special projects division between 1992 and 1994. In April 2006, she was elected by shareholders of theHong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) to be a director of the company and served till 2009.[7]
Loh was appointed to theLegislative Council (LegCo) in 1992. In1995 Hong Kong legislative election and1998 Hong Kong legislative election she ran in two direct elections and won by large margins. She co-founded, in 1995, theSociety for Protection of the Harbour and was responsible for creating and sponsoring the historicProtection of the Harbour Ordinance. While part of the democratic camp in LegCo, she took a less confrontational approach than some, preferring to keep open lines of communication with all sides. She has been described as Hong Kong's "reasonable radical".[8]
In 2000, she and Lisa Hopkinson co-founded a Hong Kong-based non-profitthink tank,Civic Exchange, and once again entered the political spotlight, but outside of theLegCo. She resigned as its chief executive on 11 September 2012 upon her appointment as Undersecretary for the Environment in theadministration of CY Leung, taking up her new post the following day.[1] At the same time, she resigned from all her positions in other non-profit organizations, academic affiliations, and non-executive directorships in commercial firms.
As Undersecretary for the Environment, Loh was responsible for drafting policy documents, including on air quality, energy, and climate change. She was responsible for stakeholder engagement in such matters as biodiversity and energy saving in buildings. Loh was also responsible for changing Hong Kong's shipping emissions regulation, which resulted in mainland China changing its policy, as well as playing a crucial role in ending the local trading of ivory.[9][10][11][12] She left the government at the end ofCY Leung's term, on 30 June 2017.[2]
From the 1980s, Loh is a published author of many academic and popular works, she hosted a public affairs radio program at one time, and is an Op-Ed writer and presenter and speaker on the environment, climate change, green finance, as well as geopolitics, such as US-China relations.[13][14]
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(help)Legislative Council of Hong Kong | ||
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Preceded byas Representative for Hong Kong Island East | Member of Legislative Council Representative forHong Kong Island Central 1995–1997 | Replaced byProvisional Legislative Council |
New parliament | Member of Legislative Council Representative forHong Kong Island 1998–2000 Served alongside:Martin Lee,Yeung Sum,Gary Cheng | Succeeded by |
Government offices | ||
Preceded by | Under Secretary for theEnvironment 2012–2017 | Succeeded by |
Party political offices | ||
New political party | Leader of theCitizens Party 1997–2000 | Succeeded by |
Order of precedence | ||
Preceded by Florence Hui Under Secretary for Home Affairs | Hong Kong order of precedence Under Secretary for the Environment | Succeeded by Yau Shing-mu Under Secretary for Transport and Housing |