Hong Kong greenhouse gas emissions rise for second year in a row
New figures show a continuing upward trend, even as other cities decrease their discharge
The city's total greenhouse gas emissions rose for the second year in a row in 2012, amounting to some 43 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, new government figures show.
Hongkongers produced about six tonnes per person, about the same as the year before but up from 2010, according to the Environmental Protection Department's latest greenhouse gas emissions inventory.
Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, absorb infrared radiation and trap heat in the earth's atmosphere, which leads to global warming.
The city saw a 300,000-tonne increase in 2012 from 2011, which the US Environmental Protection Agency's calculator indicates is equivalent to what 700,000 barrels of oil or 63,000 passenger vehicles would emit in a year. It was an increase of 0.2 tonnes per capita.
Electricity generation, transport and other fuel uses still comprised the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions, although slight reductions in the first two categories were recorded. Greenhouse gas from waste management, which accounts for 5 per cent of all emissions, rose by 50,000 tonnes.
Energy intensity - the quantity of energy needed to produce a unit of gross domestic product - appears to have held steady, however. Last month, the government set a target of cutting energy intensity by 40 per cent by 2025 from 2005 levels.