https://www.scmp.com/rss/517205/feed Dr Mark Hinnells is a director at Susenco Consulting, based in London and Hong Kong, providing services in government policy, organisational strategy, project development and finance. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Mark Hinnells Mark Hinnells The past week has seen four incidences of black rain. On Tuesday, two separate warnings were issued before 9am, so parents were all working from home as kindergarten and holiday activities were cancelled, leaving the city much quieter than usual. This quiet prompted me to ask three questions. Is this the usual bad weather or driven by climate change? If it is long-term change, what are the impacts and costs? And what are we doing about it? According to the Hong Kong Observatory, annual rainfall... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3320912/4-black-rain-days-week-show-hong-kongs-climate-fight-urgency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3320912/4-black-rain-days-week-show-hong-kongs-climate-fight-urgency?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Aug 2025 21:30:08 +0000 At the latest UN climate conference, representatives from each of the countries present sought to establish a new global climate finance regime. Developed economies had already committed to mobilise US$100 billion annually in climate finance by 2020 to help developing countries reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. This goal was belatedly reached in 2022, but the deal expires next year. The Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance, chaired by the British climate economist... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3288200/did-cop29-make-any-meaningful-progress-climate-change?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3288200/did-cop29-make-any-meaningful-progress-climate-change?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Nov 2024 21:30:08 +0000 It has been over five months since more than 110 countries at the Cop28 UN climate change conference agreed to double their energy efficiency improvements to an annual rate of 4 per cent as part of a deal towards meeting the Paris Agreement. What has Hong Kong done since? In many areas of environmental policy, Hong Kong has followed international practice. It recently adopted a taxonomy for sustainable finance, seeking consistency with guidelines issued by the Chinese government and European... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3262681/hong-kong-needs-start-decarbonising-its-buildings-heres-how?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3262681/hong-kong-needs-start-decarbonising-its-buildings-heres-how?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 May 2024 01:30:16 +0000 The Cop28 UN climate conference in Dubai ended with its first ever declaration on “transitioning” from fossil fuels and a bounty of promises and plans – at least 74 “pledges and declarations” and “new initiatives” were counted by Climate Action Tracker. But the question remains: what did we really get out it? On the first day of Cop28, delegates agreed to operationalise the “loss and damage” fund proposed at the previous Conference of Parties to help climate-vulnerable countries. But the over... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3245928/cop28s-bounty-climate-promises-what-did-we-really-get-out-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3245928/cop28s-bounty-climate-promises-what-did-we-really-get-out-it?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Dec 2023 01:30:15 +0000 As the world gathers for COP28, it’s a good time to reflect on Hong Kong’s progress on climate change. I’ve spent 30 years developing and implementing climate change policy but I’m new to Hong Kong, and so I am looking with fresh eyes. The 2015 Paris Agreement committed the world to limiting climate change to no more than 2 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels, and preferably no more than 1.5 degrees. But we are already at 1.2 degrees, and because carbon dioxide has such a long... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3242498/cop28-cut-carbon-hong-kong-must-first-learn-put-price-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3242498/cop28-cut-carbon-hong-kong-must-first-learn-put-price-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Nov 2023 05:00:13 +0000