Letters | Hong Kong budget priorities must keep climate change needs in mind

The government’s commitment of funds to climate change mitigation measures is welcome, but it is nowhere near what is needed to achieve Paris Agreement goals

Projects, such as the Northern Metropolis and Lantau Tomorrow Vision, should not be rushed through without attention to their environmental impacts

Reading Time:2 minutes

Hong Kong has installed small floating solar farms at the Shek Pik and Plover Cove Reservoirs to collect data for similar large-scale projects in the future. Photo: Martin Chan

Published: 2:30pm, 4 Mar 2022

On February 23, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced the 2022-23 government budget. The budget includes several fiscal measures to respond to climate change.

Among them are an additional HK$200 million (US$25.6 million) funding for the Green Tech Fund, injecting an additional HK$1.5 billion into the EV‑charging at Home Subsidy Scheme, an allocation of about HK$8.4 billion to carry out improvements on the multi-district storm water drainage system to enhance flood protection capabilities, and continuing green bond issuance.

In addition, funds will be set aside in the next five years to carry out improvement work and management measures for 26 low-lying residential areas to respond to the threat of sea level rise.

CarbonCare InnoLab welcomes the government’s moves that respond to the demands of society and continue investing in dealing with climate change. The direction is correct and deserves support, but these measures are a drop in the ocean compared to the carbon reduction targets needed around the world.

Last year’s UN Climate Change Conference reviewed the progress on the Paris Agreement. It highlighted that, in the face of the growing climate change crisis globally, proposed mitigation and adaptation measures are insufficient to keep the global temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius and nowhere near enough to save the planet from the climate crisis.

03:07

Climate deal to ‘phase down’ coal reached at COP26 as nations seek to avert climate disaster

Meanwhile, consider two major infrastructure projects, the Northern Metropolis and Lantau Tomorrow. Chan said the government will set aside HK$100 billion from the accumulated revenue of the Future Fund for land, housing and transport infrastructure in the Northern Metropolis. The government will also consider adopting bond issuances or public-private partnerships for the Lantau Tomorrow project.