Opinion | Why Joe Biden recommitting the US to the Paris climate accord should spark action in Hong Kong
The US’ commitment is in line with a worldwide trend towards decabornisation that Hong Kong cannot ignore, especially with the mainland pledging to be carbon neutral by 2060
The United States has rejoined the Paris Agreement on climate change, a move that will become effective on February 19. This is good news for the world, and an indication for all jurisdictions, including Hong Kong, to step up.
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It was a huge disappointment when the previous US administration withdrew from the multilateral treaty that took years to put together. The world has a long way to go to meet the challenge of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, a goal that cannot be achieved without a steep increase in climate action and collaboration among the biggest carbon-dioxide emitters – China, the US and the European Union.
With the US recommitting to the fight against climate change, it is generally expected that it will pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The EU, Japan and South Korea have already pledged to do so, and China has committed to doing the same by 2060.
The treaty requires governments to provide specific decarbonisation plans and that they report on progress every five years, as well as ratchet up efforts. The next United Nations-sponsored climate meeting will be held in Glasgow in November, and countries are already announcing how they will strengthen their national climate plans.
The most ambitious smaller well-developed economies, Finland, Austria and Sweden, have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035, 2040 and 2045 respectively. Being front-runners, they will have a lot to teach the rest of the world on how to shape policy and prompt change in their citizens’ behaviour, given that achieving carbon neutrality has to be a society-wide effort.
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China vows carbon neutrality by 2060 during one-day UN biodiversity summit
China vows carbon neutrality by 2060 during one-day UN biodiversity summit
Reducing and even eliminating fossil fuels is crucial to decarbonisation and also improving air quality. Hong Kong decided to stop expanding coal-fired plants for generating electricity in 1997. Pakistan has announced it will not build new coal plants, while Israel will reduce coal usage. The US has just announced a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on public land.
