Top adviser quits Hong Kong climate change support group, upset by delays, officials sidelining experts
- Expert team was set up to gather feedback, craft policy suggestions, but ‘that never happened’
- Meteorologist slams delay in releasing results of public opinion poll on cutting carbon
A leading adviser on Hong Kong’s strategy for fighting climate change has resigned, slamming the government for its lack of transparency and delaying the policy formulation process.
Meteorologist Lam Chiu-ying was appointed in 2018 as convenor of a support group on the city’s long-term decarbonisation plan. Comprising more than 30 experts, the group was tasked with running a public engagement exercise to collect residents’ opinions on how to cut emissions.
“Our originally declared objective, to collect public opinion and craft policy recommendations for when Hong Kong can achieve carbon neutrality for the government, that never happened,” Lam, the former director of the Hong Kong Observatory, told the Post.
He complained of long delays in the process, with Environment Bureau officials often brushing off the group’s expert opinions and ignoring their suggestions.
“I felt I have not been able to fully contribute my expertise, which is why I decided to resign,” he said.
Lam’s exit came as mainland China, the world’s biggest emitter, made a pledge last month to achieve carbon neutrality – which refers to either reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero, or offsetting emissions with carbon removal – by 2060. It also said its greenhouse gas emissions would peak within the next decade, after which they would start to fall.
