HK strives to reduce carbon emission

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang Wednesday said, to combat climate change, the government's emission reduction strategy emphasizes the wider use of cleaner and low-carbon energies and fuels in power generation.

When delivering his annual policy address at the Legislative Council on Wednesday, Tsang said the government proposes optimizing the fuel mix for power generation, significantly reducing the city's reliance on fossil fuels, phasing out existing coal-fired generation units, and increasing the use of non-fossil, cleaner and low-carbon fuels, including renewable energy and imported nuclear energy.

"We propose that by 2020, natural gas should account for about 40 percent of our fuel mix for power generation, coal no more than 10 percent, renewable energy about 3 to 4 percent, and the balance of about 50 percent by imported nuclear energy," he said.

Furthermore, the government will enhance energy efficiency, promote green building, advocate electricity saving, facilitate low-carbon transport and develop facilities to turn waste into energy.

By implementing this strategy, Tsang said the carbon intensity in Hong Kong is expected to be reduced by 50 to 60 percent by 2020, compared with the 2005 level. Greenhouse gas emissions will decrease by 19 to 33 percent compared with 2005. Emissions per capita will also be lowered from 6.2 tons to 3.6 to 4.5 tons, far lower than the levels of the United States, the European Union and Japan.

To encourage the transport sector to test out green and low- carbon transport means and technology, the government plans to set up a 300 million HK dollars (about 38.66 billion U.S. dollars) Pilot Green Transport Fund this year for application by the transport trade. (1 U.S. dollar equals 7.76 HK dollars)

Source: Xinhua