Hong Kong’s greenhouse gas emissions fall for third year, but concern groups say more work needed
- Government report shows greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 equivalent to 33.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, about 16 per cent lower than in 2019
- But environmental campaigners say Hong Kong must do more to meet international obligations on climate change, despite fall in emissions
Hong Kong’s greenhouse gas emissions decreased for the third year in a row in 2020, the latest statistics from the government revealed on Monday.
But environmentalists called for more control over energy use and increased use of renewable energy sources in the long term.
Concern groups said that, although greenhouse gas emissions amounted to about 4.5 tonnes per head in 2020, around 16 per cent lower than the 5.3 tonnes per head recorded in 2019, there was still a long way to go to achieve carbon neutrality and align with the Paris Agreement’s climate change goals.
The international treaty, which came into force in 2016, ruled that per capita emissions needed to be cut to around 2 tonnes before 2030 to meet the goal of an average global temperature rise of less than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2050.
A report released by the Environmental Protection Department showed the city’s overall greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 were equivalent to 33.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, about 16 per cent lower than the 40.1 million tonnes logged in 2019.
Greenhouse gas emissions were equivalent to 41 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2018, 2 per cent higher than in 2019.
