Hong Kong’s leader must get tough on climate change in next policy address after recent bouts of extreme weather, 17 green groups say
- Environmental organisations band together and call on John Lee to set clear, short-term policies for cutting carbon emissions and reducing waste
- ‘As climate change is coming faster and stronger than expected, we must all be united and act now,’ member of think tank behind joint statement says
Hong Kong’s leader must get tough on climate change in his coming policy address after the city’s recent struggles with bouts of extreme weather, 17 locally based environmental groups have said in an open letter.
The rare collective statement issued by the city’s green groups on Monday aimed to encourage city officials to be more environmentally conscious while forming policies, pointing to weather events, such as the “once-in-500-years” rainfall and major storm warnings, over the past two months.
Kitty Tam Tsz-ching of think tank Civic Exchange, one of the three organisations behind the letter, said the government’s current action plan lacked any short-term strategies and goals for combating climate change.
“Hong Kong authorities’ Climate Action Plan only has targets for 2035 and 2050 and is not detailed enough,” she said.
The action plan was published in 2021 by then-environment minister Wong Kam-sing and calls for the city to reduce its carbon emission to 50 per cent of 2005 levels by 2035, before achieving net-zero emissions ahead of 2050.
