'HK Needs More Aggressive Carbon Cutting Policies'

The Hong Kong government has been urged to roll out aggressive policies to cut carbon emissions – and roll back projects considered highly polluting, such as the mega-reclamation project off Lantau – in order to meet its goal of climate neutrality before 2050.

NGO CarbonCare InnoLab said on Thursday that the policies should be part of the upcoming climate action plan, due in a few months’ time, as the SAR is currently not on track to meet the 2050 target.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the goal in her latest policy address, a couple of months after President Xi Jinping declared that China would aim for carbon neutrality by 2060.

Lam said her government would update its official climate policy plan by the middle of 2021 with more proactive strategies.

The research director of CarbonCare InnoLab, John Sayer, said the target Lam laid out appears to be inconsistent with other initiatives mentioned in the policy address.

"Before that came all kinds of announcements, earlier in the policy address, about third runway, about new bridges, about new carparks, sections on innovation, technology, smart cities and education... none of them mentioned a low-carbon pathway," he said.

"There is no mention of the concept of green buildings and low-carbon development,” he added. “While we welcome this statement, it seems to be divorced, or an orphan statement, from the rest of the policy address."

He said the upcoming climate action plan should be "excitingly aggressive" in order to reach the target of carbon neutrality before 2050.

The group's CEO, Chong Chan-yau, said it’s somewhat disappointing that Hong Kong is falling short right now, but there was room and opportunity for improvement.

He said the Carrie Lam administration should improve governance over green policies and consider abandoning the massive Lantau Tomorrow Vision project.