Road to clean air in Hong Kong smoother by the day
- Hongkongers are playing their part by buying more electric cars and the government is building more charging points, leaving buses and other modes of public transport as holdouts in the race to reach zero emissions on our roads
Governments around the world are committed to ending the sale of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles from 2030 onwards as part of the battle against climate change. Environmentally conscious Hongkongers are playing their part towards meeting targets of carbon neutrality and zero carbon emissions.
The 38,894 new private cars registered in the city last year included 9,730 electric models, or one in four. That is a dramatic increase from one in eight in 2020, a factor in the reduction of roadside pollution by about 40 per cent over the last decade, along with other emissions reduction measures undertaken by carmakers.
The news gets better for the environment, going by private car sales in the first quarter this year, with an unprecedented increase in sales of electric vehicles accounting for half of them.
Countries want to get polluting fossil fuel vehicles off the roads altogether to help meet zero-carbon emission targets around the middle of the century. Carmakers are complying, variously setting 2035, 2030 and earlier for all-electric model line-ups.
Governments, too, must play their part if car owners are to continue playing theirs, ensuring the provision of an adequate number of electric vehicle charging points, given that it takes longer to top up a battery than a fuel tank.
It is good to hear from the Environmental Protection Department that the installation so far of up to 5,000 electric vehicle charging stations has put the authorities three years ahead of their 2025 target. They have also approved the construction of 70,000 charging ports at residential buildings, which would double the current number.
Green transport is one of the four pillars of Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2050, which includes zero vehicular emissions and zero carbon emissions in the sector before 2050, through the electrification of vehicles and ferries and development of new-energy transport. The government plans to end new registration of fossil-fuel-propelled and hybrid private cars in 2035 or earlier. But there remains room for the authorities and the public bus transport sector to collaborate in fast-tracking the removal of an egregious remaining source of roadside pollution.
