Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) — Hong Kong is seeking to reduce its
greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2020 from 2005
levels, the city’s secretary for the environment said.
Businesses in the city, which consume about 40 percent of
Hong Kong’s power, have been offered incentives to construct
energy-efficient buildings or to reduce power use in existing
structures, Wong Kam-sing said today in an interview in New
York. Hong Kong also is promoting rooftop solar systems and
turning food waste into energy.
“We’d like to improve our livability, particularly air
quality, at the same time we further reduce our carbon
footprint,” Wong said.
The city of 7.2 million people has per-capita greenhouse
gas emissions of about 6 metric tons, compared to about 18
metric tons a person in the U.S. and Australia, according to
data compiled by the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office.
“We’d like to raise the bar and set an even more ambitious
target,” Wong said.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Justin Doom in New York at
jdoom1@bloomberg.net;
Ehren Goossens in New York at
egoossens1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Jim Efstathiou Jr., Will Wade