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Carrie Lam policy address 2018
OpinionLetters

Letters | Before Lantau Tomorrow, Hong Kong today needs to measure carbon footprint of artificial islands

  • The UN panel on climate change has urged the international community to triple efforts to reduce carbon emission and limit global warming
  • The Hong Kong government does not seem to have considered the carbon footprint of its Lantau artificial islands plan

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A hiker takes a breather on the popular Lo Fu Tau trail in Lantau North Country Park, with Discovery Bay and Peng Chau island seen in the distance. Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced in October her ambitious ‘Lantau Tomorrow Vision’, which proposes creating artificial islands spanning 1,700 hectares off the eastern coast of Lantau Island. Photo: Robert Ng
Letters
We refer to the report, “Hong Kong, Shenzhen reclamation plans may be on collision course” (January 2), on how the city will compete against Shenzhen for river sand, rocks and other infilling material necessary for Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s Lantau Tomorrow project, thereby further driving up the total cost currently estimated at HK$500 billion.
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Since the delivery of the policy address in October, the reclamation plan has met with severe criticism due to its projected financial burden on Hong Kong society, the permanent damage to marine biodiversity, and the lack of coordination with other cities in the Greater Bay Area.

Despite its potential to provide more housing in the long term, we believe that the Hong Kong government should not push forward with the reclamation project without carefully and quantitatively assessing the carbon footprint of building the artificial islands.

Such assessment, also known as carbon auditing, is necessary for curbing the climate change that could threaten the livelihood of future generations.
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In a recent report, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change urged the international community to triple efforts to reduce carbon emission and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
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