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https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3031767/hong-kong-urged-provide-businesses-incentives-go
Hong Kong/ Health & Environment

Hong Kong urged to provide businesses with incentives to go green to realise its plans for a low-carbon future

  • Conservancy group head Sally Jewell says the city has a good opportunity to be a leader in showing the world what can be done to decarbonise
  • Her group won Lui Che Woo Sustainability Prize for bringing together local communities, businesses and governments to tackle climate change and food shortage issues
Sally Jewell was in Hong Kong to receive the Lui Che Woo Sustainability Prize on behalf of The Nature Conservancy. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Hong Kong could provide policy and financial incentives to encourage businesses to move towards sustainable practices and investments to realise its plans for a low-carbon future, a former Obama administration official and head of an international environmental non-profit says.

The advice from Sally Jewell, interim CEO of The Nature Conservancy and former US secretary of the interior during the Obama administration, came as the Hong Kong government concluded a public engagement exercise to devise its long-term low-carbon strategy two weeks ago.

Speaking from her experience as a former business leader and government official, Jewell suggested ways Hong Kong could move towards becoming a regional leader in tackling climate change.

“It is all hands on deck. It is bottom-up, it is top-down, it is engagement of government, businesses and citizens,” Jewell said in an interview while in Hong Kong to receive the Lui Che Woo Sustainability Prize on behalf of The Nature Conservancy.

Solar panels could be installed in public spaces. Photo: Shutterstock
Solar panels could be installed in public spaces. Photo: Shutterstock

The organisation, which has 72 branches across the world, was awarded the prize for bringing together local communities, businesses and governments to tackle climate change and food shortage issues.

Jewell raised the example of e-commerce retailer Amazon, which, under pressure from its employees and consumers, as well as the risk of harming its brand image, pledged on September 19 to become carbon neutral by 2040. This meant the company would meet the goals of the Paris climate accord 10 years ahead of schedule.

While it was not government regulation that pushed the company to do so, policies should be put in place to ensure a competitor was not rewarded for unsustainable practices, Jewell said.

“One of the most important roles that government plays is aligning interests and putting in place thoughtful regulation, policy and processes to reward those who are doing things to support positive environmental outcomes, and potentially, penalise those who are not playing,” she said.

A partnership between innovative businesses, government and NGOs such as The Nature Conservancy could create policies that changed the motivation for cutting carbon emissions, Jewell said.

The government’s 2030 climate action plan included a pledge to lower per capita carbon emissions to between 3.3 and 3.8 tonnes from the current six tonnes, as well as phasing out coal in the fuel mix and adding more natural gas and increasing the use of renewable energy to 3 to 4 per cent.

The city’s energy is generated by a duopoly between CLP Power and HK Electric. Scheme of control agreements between the government and the two firms include feed-in tariffs, which are payments the companies make to buy clean energy from households and businesses generating it, to incentivise its use.

However, almost half of Hong Kong’s energy is generated by burning coal and 27 per cent by natural gas while a quarter is nuclear energy imported from mainland China.

When asked what the city could do in terms of its options for cutting emissions, Jewell suggested local companies could use long-term green energy supply contracts to push power firms to switch to renewables.

Most of Hong Kong’s power is generated by burning coal and gas. Photo: Martin Chan
Most of Hong Kong’s power is generated by burning coal and gas. Photo: Martin Chan

While running a company in the United States, she had used such contracts in states like Colorado where coal was the primary source to push the power generators to build more green plants.

“If businesses or governments say ‘we want renewable power’, then [electricity companies] can use that power supply contract to get money from banks to finance green power facilities,” she said.

“I think there are lessons to be learned there. The more you create demand for renewables, the more you incentivise people to invest in renewables.

“It’s a false choice to say that going with a low-carbon economy is also more expensive. That is a choice.

“Hong Kong as an innovative, very densely populated city, has a good opportunity to be a leader in showing the world what can be done to decarbonise.”

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong government has been holding a public engagement exercise on its decarbonisation strategy. It posed 10 questions to Hongkongers, including whether they would support the government’s emissions targets and the decision to phase out fossil fuels, as well as suggestions on what measures could be used to promote energy efficient buildings.

“The public engagement questionnaire is too general and primitive,” said Ringo Mak Wing-hoi, co-founder of climate change concern group 350 Hong Kong.

“Hong Kong should come up with a self-dependent energy policy, but in the future, regional cooperation with either Singapore or Taiwan, for example, is necessary.”

Mak said Hong Kong could benefit greatly from solar energy, not just 3 to 4 per cent but close to a double-digit figure.

Jeffrey Hung Oi-shing, a senior programme manager at Friends of the Earth (HK), said many government facilities and public spaces, such as rooftops, parks, reservoirs and treatment plants, could be used to install solar panels.

Hung also said nuclear power, which made up a quarter of the city’s energy sources and was imported from the mainland, was an unsustainable solution. “Nuclear energy should be phased out after replacing fossil fuel with renewable energy,” Hung said.

The long-term strategic partnership with Guangdong province could lower the cost of renewable energy development, Hung said, as the mainland was likely to exceed the target of obtaining 20 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2030.