ExclusiveHong Kong to set up task force to explore expanding green efforts beyond taxis, buses, lorries and ferries

The Hong Kong government will set up a new task force to explore opportunities in green hydrogen to achieve “deeper decarbonisation”, environment minister Wong Kam-sing says

The government will update its four-year-old Climate Action Plan this year, to map out a path for Hong Kong to achieve carbon neutrality, minister says

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Top view of Victoria Harbour from the Lugard Road Lookout at The Peak, on February 4, 2021. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 4:00pm, 14 May 2021Updated: 12:27pm, 19 May 2021

The Hong Kong government will set up a new task force to explore opportunities in green hydrogen to achieve “deeper decarbonisation”, environment minister Wong Kam-sing said.

This includes learning from the experience of the Greater Bay Area city of Foshan, home to some 448 zero-emission delivery trucks and 1,000 green buses powered by hydrogen – the most in China. The city is also a hub for hydrogen supply chain development.

“We have to keep in touch with them to see how this application can be launched,” he told the SCMP Conversations: Sustainability webinar on Thursday.

“We have a particular task force under the EV [electric vehicle] road map and also for our upcoming Climate Action Plan involving colleagues from different bureaus. We will work together on how we can ride on the [energy] transformation involving hydrogen vehicles.”

(From left) SCMP's Correspondent Eric Ng moderated SCMP Conversations: Sustainability webinar titled ‘Is sustainability at the heart of your business agenda?’ on Thursday. He was joined on the panel by Environment Secretary Wong Kam-sing, Schneider Electric’s chief strategy and sustainability officer Olivier Blum and New World Development’s head of sustainability Ellie Tang. Photo: Eva Cheung

Currently, hydrogen is primarily produced from fossil fuel in mainland China, since green hydrogen produced from the electrolysis of water using renewable energy like wind and solar power is expensive and needs to be scaled-up for costs to come down. Distribution infrastructure also needs to be built for mass adoption.