Created on 1 March 2023
The Hong Kong Chapter of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN Hong Kong) conducted a second survey in 2022 to get the opinions of Hong Kong young people on sustainable development. Following are the major findings:
Increased Awareness of the SDGs
Some 20.9% of the respondents said they had heard of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This compares to only 14.5% in 2018, indicating that Hong Kong young people have become more aware of the SDGs in the past four years.
Environmental and Health Agenda Remains in the Spotlight
When asked to rate the significance of the SDGs* on a 10-point scale, more than 90% of the respondents were most concerned about the following:
- SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation; SDG 7 Affordable Energy and Clean Energy
- SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 13 Climate Action; SDG 14 Life below Water; SDG 15 Life on Land
The results in 2022 generally agreed with those in 2018, showing that the respondents were more concerned about SDGs related to health and the environment.
SDG Requiring More Promotion
As in 2018, SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production, didn’t gain as much attention as the other SDGs. More promotion is therefore needed.
Willingness to Take Action for Sustainable Development
The great majority of respondents were willing to take action to support sustainable development in both 2018 and 2022 – 93.5% and 92.9%, respectively. In 2022, 88.7% of the respondents could name at least one action. Those they mentioned were as follows:
- Waste separation or waste reduction (42.3%)
- Reduction of electricity or water usage (27.5%)
- Environmental protection (12.5%)
- Carbon emissions reduction (9.7%)
- Education and promoting sustainable development to others (6.3%)
- Others (11.6%)
Notably, respondents were increasingly more willing to take action related to reducing carbon emissions, represented by a significant increase from 5.1% in 2018 to 9.7% in 2022.
Summary
The results for both years were generally similar. There was some improvement in young people’s awareness of the SDGs and their willingness to respond to reduce carbon emissions in 2022. They were more aware of the SDGs related to health and the environment and paid less attention to SDG 12.
About the Survey
The survey was conducted by the Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey of CUHK by telephone between 12 and 28 July 2022 and polled 509 respondents aged 15 to 30.
Remarks
* To streamline the collection of respondents’ opinions, the 17 SDGs were grouped into 10 categories. See below for the categories.
Grouping the 17 SDGs
| # | SDGs | Category |
| 1 | SGD 1, 2 | End poverty and hunger |
| 2 | SDG 3 | Healthy lives and quality health system |
| 3 | SDG 4 | Inclusive and equitable quality education system |
| 4 | SDG 5, 10 | End inequality and discrimination |
| 5 | SDG 6, 7 | Clean water resources and sustainable energy |
| 6 | SDG 8, 9, 11 | Sustainable industries, infrastructures and urban planning |
| 7 | SDG 12 | Responsible production and rational consumption |
| 8 | SDG 13, 14, 15 | Tackle climate change and protect earth’s resources |
| 9 | SDG 16 | Build a peaceful, just and inclusive society |
| 10 | SDG 17 | Global partnership for sustainable development |
