Consultation on climate change 'hit by study's delay'
The validity of a just-launched three-month public consultation exercise over Hong Kong's climate-change strategy has been called into question after the government refused to provide details of a delayed study on the subject that it said was still not complete.
Edward Yau Tang-wah, Secretary for the Environment, yesterday rejected a request by lawmakers to release the climate-change study - worked on by a consultant for the past 30 months - as he as he was unable to provide a finished report yet.
'The report is not yet completed ... and it may take a few more months to finish,' Yau told a special meeting of the environmental affairs panel.
However, lawmakers said that without seeing the report it would be difficult for them to properly study the consultation document, 'Hong Kong's Climate Change Strategy and Action', issued by the Environment Bureau about two weeks ago, and give their comments by December 10.
The 64-page document sets out a proposed carbon-intensity target for Hong Kong - reducing carbon emissions by up to 60 per cent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels - and also recommends measures to meet that target, such as a significant fuel mix shift towards greater use of nuclear energy imported from the mainland.
Yau said it was not unusual for a consultation document to be published before a consultancy report was completed, although he did not explain why it would not be possible to delay the consultation deadline until the report had been completed.
A spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Department said last night that the consultant, ERM-Hong Kong, had largely completed the study it began, at a cost of HK$8 million in March 2008, but it still had to talk further to stakeholders about mitigation proposals before the final report could be submitted.
Yet lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan said people wanting to make a full study of the climate-change document would be disappointed because it lacked detailed supporting data.
'It is like asking people to give the government a blank cheque [on the proposed measures],' said Ho, who also asked Yau to extend the consultation period from three months to six months.
Greenpeace claimed yesterday that the long-awaited report was crucial for proper public participation in the climate change debate.
The study was originally due to be completed by late 2009, but was delayed after China made a voluntary pledge to cut its carbon emissions before the Copenhagen climate summit last December.
One of the aims of the study is to gauge the cost-effectiveness of the proposed measures in mitigating and adapting to climate change - a major aspect critics said was missing from the consultation document.
Critics also said the consultation document was also unclear about where in Guangdong, and by what means, Hong Kong would be able to claim more nuclear power. But Yau said yesterday that it was premature to give precise details.
The consultation document proposes increasing nuclear power intake from the mainland by 2020 to supply half of Hong Kong's electricity, compared with 23 per cent in 2009.
Yau said that use of nuclear power would be the medium to long-term plan for Hong Kong to cut its carbon emissions and improve the city's air quality; but, in the short term, more gas, imported from the mainland, would be used.
Powerful idea
Hong Kong's climate change proposals aim to reduce carbon emissions
The city aims to power this amount of its electricity from mainland nuclear power by 2020: 50%
