Given its limited role in global climate talks, Hong Kong had to focus on what it could achieve on its own to reduce carbon emissions, the environment secretary said before he headed to Copenhagen.
Edward Yau Tang-wah reiterated that an absolute reduction target was impractical for the city.
'What can Hong Kong do if it cannot - and is not required - to be dragged into the bargaining and negotiations? Why don't we focus on some critical matters over how we can actually deliver emission reductions?'
Yau said the city would focus on clean energy use, green transport such as electric vehicles, higher building energy efficiency, reuse of landfill gases and waste-to-energy measures to help lower its carbon emissions.
Hong Kong only adopts an emission intensity target - 25 per cent below the 2005 level by 2030 - which critics said was inadequate because it was tied to economic growth. The city's annual per capita emission was 6.7 tonnes in 2007.
While the city had a duty to reduce emissions, Yau pointed out that the city's average per capita emissions were below the world average. He suggested a substantial cut might not come as easily for Hong Kong as it did for industrialised nations, which had a higher baseline emission.