Rich Hong Kong must do its fair share to battle global warming

As Christmas approaches and 2013 comes to a close, many in Hong Kong will be hunkering down to do the same thing: finalising accounts and making sure those balance sheets balance out.

But no matter how much fancy accounting we do, there is something that won't balance out come New Year's Eve, and that is our record of resource use. There is no doubt about it: We use far more than we have. Not only does this affect the environment, by contributing to climate change, it also hurts the livelihoods of poor people globally.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in a report issued in September that the main culprit behind extreme weather events was global warming. The report revealed a wealth of data showing that climate change exists. What's more, it showed there was a certainty of at least 95 per cent that human factors were behind it.

Despite the mounting evidence, Hong Kong remains poorly equipped to play its part in tackling climate change. According to a report released on December 11 by sustainability strategists Carbon Care Asia, only one-tenth of 357 companies listed on the Hang Seng Composite Index produced formal reports on their greenhouse gas emissions - reports that would form the vital first step towards strategies combating climate change.

That is just one indicator of how unprepared Hong Kong is. This unpreparedness is undermining the valuable role that it could - and should - play.

Hong Kong has a lot to offer in helping with the problem and the government must take the lead.