How the EU can help Hong Kong decouple growth from carbon emissions

Since 1990, the EU economy has grown by over 60 per cent while net greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by a quarter

The bloc is now walking the talk on fighting climate change with the European Green Deal. It can share this experience with Hong Kong

3-MIN READ3-MIN

A woman looks out across Victoria Harbour as the Hong Kong Observatory issues the first typhoon warning No 1 signal in 2021 on June 11. In October, Hong Kong issued two No 8 storm warning signals in four days. Photo: Dickson Lee

Thomas Gnocchi

Ambassador Thomas Gnocchi is head of the European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macau.

Published: 6:45am, 29 Oct 2021

Climate change knows no borders. Neither do the extreme weather patterns that come with it. For the first time, Hong Kong issued the No 8 storm warning signal twice within four days this month.

Over the summer, we have seen several climate disasters, putting the survival of many species at risk. Climate change may soon render certain parts of the Earth uninhabitable to humans. These events should serve as a reminder that immediate action is needed.

In Paris, in 2015, the international community finally agreed to embark on an ambitious journey – to limit global warming to between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees Celsius. While such levels of warming might seem manageable, the difference could be existential. For the human body, the difference between 40 degrees and 42 degrees is the difference between life and death.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change just released a disheartening report. Under current climate commitments, global temperatures would rise by an unacceptable 2.7 degrees by 2100 – a gloomy outlook to say the least.