How far are Hongkongers willing to go to save planet from climate change? Consultation aims to find out
- Aim of three-month consultation is to draft strategy that will fulfil the city’s obligations under the Paris Agreement
- Public given wide range of lifestyle choices, and analysts will gauge the meaning of chosen low-carbon options
Hong Kong will have to ban all fossil fuel vehicles, switch off air conditioning and seek “very close energy regional cooperation” to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050, according to a new paper set to engage the public in drafting a long-term strategy on the issue.
But do not fret – the consultation also gives less stringent choices that will still reduce carbon emissions by 60 or 80 per cent from 2005 levels.
Such reductions will mean annual carbon emissions per capita of 2 tonnes or 1 tonne respectively by 2050, compared with 5.7 tonnes in 2016.
“The key of the consultation is to make choices,” said former Hong Kong Observatory director Lam Chiu-ying, convener of the Support Group on Long-term Decarbonisation Strategy, which will help promote the exercise.
“It gauges how much citizens are willing to change their behaviours to save the Earth from climate change.”
Although the consultation paper, released on Friday, does not specify what it means by “energy regional cooperation”, the term is widely interpreted among scholars as buying electricity from mainland China.
