The government of Hong Kong must step up climate leadership to achieve its carbon neutrality goal, an environmental NGO has said, amid a heatwave in the city that has seen the death of a 66-year-old construction worker.
“Extreme weather is becoming an unwanted new normal under climate change,” Friends of the Earth said in a statement last Thursday, ahead of Monday’s UN World Environment Day. “As our greenhouse gas emission continues to warm the planet, extreme weather like typhoons and heatwaves will be more frequent and severe.”
Chief Executive John Lee’s 2023 Policy Address vowed to cut “total carbon emissions by 50 per cent before 2035 (from the 2005 level) in order to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality before 2050,” but it was thin on new environmental initiatives.
The green group called on authorities to implement renewable energy sources in the region by collaborating with the Greater Bay Area, and setting up a hydrogen economy to decarbonise industrial processes and transportation.
It also said the city must “accelerate the electrification of its commercial and public transportation systems,” and that the government must strengthen building energy codes and mandate building life cycle assessments.
Friends of the Earth also said that the government should promote healthier and more sustainable diets and implement climate and sustainability education in schools. Meanwhile, the government should embody the “polluter pays” principle and implement a carbon pricing mechanism, and “expedite the development of its green finance talent pool” to align itself with international sustainability standards, the NGO said.