To combat the coastal flood risks due to sea level rise and storm surges, the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) completed the Coastal Hazards Study in 2021 and identified 26 coastal low-lying or windy residential areas and formulated improvement works and management measures to safeguard public safety.

To further develop the long-term shoreline management integrated strategies, CEDD completed in the end of 2024 the "Study on Shoreline Management Plan". The Study aims to provide guidelines on planning and implementing urban coastal development and protection measures and formulate the related long-term strategies and preventive measures in order to enhance the Government's and relevant stakeholders' capacities to combat climate change. CEDD briefed the Legislative Council's Panel on Development the long-term shoreline management integrated strategies to address sea level rise, and extreme storm surges. The Executive Summary of the "Study on Shoreline Management Plan" can be found here.

Depending on the effectiveness of decarbonisation efforts by various nations, there are considerable uncertainties in the climate change impacts at the end of the century. The difference between intermediate and very high greenhouse gas emissions scenarios is more prominent towards the end of the century. To this end, we adopt the "Progressive Adaptive Approach" with integrated strategies of Adaptation, Resilience and Management to cope with the potentially increasing flood risks under the impacts of climate change.

Progressive Adaptive Approach

The Progress Adaptive Approach provides sufficient flexibility and adaptability so that we can have sufficient time to develop effective and cost-efficient measures according to the actual situation. This can avoid premature development or implementation of large-scale projects leading to unnecessary construction, operation and maintenance expenses.

Integrated Shoreline Management Strategies and Measures

The shoreline management strategies can be divided into 4 categories:-

1. "No Active Intervention" : Retain the existing shoreline;
2. "Hold The Line" : Maintainor or enhance coastal defence along the existing shoreline;
3. "Managed Realignment" : Relocate the coastal defence lineline further inland; and
4. "Advance The Line" : Establish a new coastal defence line seaward to protect inland areas.

According to the current estimate, the flood risk brought by climate change to the coastal areas in Hong Kong at mid-century is considered manageable. The "No Active Intervention" and "Hold The Line" strategies not only effectively manage the risks in response to the coastal conditions of Hong Kong, but also reduce the impacts on valuable lands and marine resources.

Adaptation, Resilience and Management Integrated Strategy

We adopt a comprehensive and multipronged integrated strategy to address flood risks caused by extreme weather, focusing on three aspects including:

• Adaptation : Implementing coastal improvement works in an orderly manner by adopting the Progressive Adaptive Approach to reduce flooding impact;
• Resilience : Adopting temporary or non-structural measures to control flood risks or reduce flooding impact for speedy society recovery; and
• Management : Strengthening emergency preparedness, leveraging innovative technologies, enhancing information dissemination, conducting drills, reviewing and timely updating guidelines/standards, with a view to raising public awareness of flood prevention.

Multi-layered Protection Design

We continue to adopt a multi-layered protection design for improvement measures to mitigate coastal flood risks and reduce the impacts of flooding.

• 1^st layer : Adopting adaptation measures along the coastline as the first line of defence to reduce the coastal hazards, for example, constructing or raising wave walls;
• 2^nd layer : Adopting resilience measures in suitable locations behind the coastline to form the second line of defence, for example, demountable flood barriers to form a buffer zone to further reduce the seawater flowing towards inland areas;
• 3^rd layer : Adopting contingency measures in front of important buildings as the third line of defence, for example, demountable flood boards and/or sandbags; and
• 4^th layer : Finally, in conjunction with management measures, such as early warning systems and action plans on emergency arrangement, installation of water gauges, pumps and warning signs, etc. to raise public alertness and strengthen preparedness.

We follow the Port Works Design Manual to design the coastal structures. With reference to United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report (AR6), we have updated the Port Works Design Manual by taking into account the very high greenhouse gas emissions scenario as part of the design requirements for the Progressive Adaptive Approach. The "increase in extreme sea level due to climate change" in Year 2100 for 1 in 100 year return period is updated to around 1.2m. This update takes the results of IPCC AR6 on board in advising the enhanced requirements to combat climate change for designing coastal structures with higher resilience.

The Government is taking forward the various improvement works and management measures for the identified 26 coastal residential areas in an orderly manner, and will conduct timely consultation with the stakeholders so as to meet the locals' needs and expectations. Action plans for those areas have been already in place. Progress of enhancement measures as at end September 2025  is shown below:

Remark: The areas in normal font and italic font above represented the enhancement measures to be implemented by Civil Engineering and Development Department and Drainage Services Department respectively

Coastal Enhancement Measures Completed / In progress

In order to enhance the public awareness of coastal hazards under extreme weather and climate change, we have briefed the study findings and recommendations to relevant stakeholders, such as Legislative Council members (e.g. Attending the Panel on Environmental Affairs Meetings in 2024 and in 2025, as well as attending the Panel on Development Meeting in 2025), District Council members, Harbourfront Commission, Rural Committees and Village Representatives, professional institutions and organizations.

Liaison with Stakeholders

Exchange with Professional Institutions / Organisations

Public Education

We are exploring different innovative technologies in the design of coastal enhancement to enhance the performance of operation and maintenance in the future.

Click the following links to learn more about extreme weather and climate change:-

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• Climate Change in Hong Kong
• Mean Sea Level Projection
• What is a Storm Surge?
• Storm Surge Threat
• Demonstration of Wave Effect under Extreme Weather Event with Climate Change