Climate change forum held

The Environment Bureau today convened the Climate Change Stakeholder Engagement Forum at the Central Government Offices to tap the views of over 600 stakeholders on Hong Kong's long-term climate strategy.

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam chaired the forum. Secretary for the Environment KS Wong and other Government representatives also attended.

Mrs Lam said as climate change is a cross-sector, cross-domain problem affecting different parts of society, the support and involvement of the community is needed to deal with it.

She briefed the forum on the Government’s work in emission reduction, which includes the promotion of smart-city development, and environmentally-friendly transportation and buildings.

Mrs Lam said the Government will formulate Hong Kong’s development direction based on the sustainability principle, and strengthen energy saving and waste reduction efforts to balance development and environmental conservation, while improving living quality.

The Government has upgraded drainage system capacity and improved coastal structure design to reduce the risk of flooding due to sea level rise, and set up adverse weather surveillance and public safety alert systems to strengthen the city's adaptability and resilience to climate change.

Hong Kong is on track to meet the target of reducing carbon intensity by up to 60% by 2020, compared with the 2005 level.

The Steering Committee on Climate Change, chaired by the Chief Secretary, will steer and co-ordinate related actions and set a carbon reduction target for 2030 towards the end of this year, taking into account views collected at the forum and other channels.

The public can provide views on combating climate change by email by August 20.

More information on climate change is available at the Environmental Protection Department's website.