Finance Committee
Speech by SEE at the FC Special Meeting
Speech by the Secretary for Environment and Ecology
at the Finance Committee Special Meeting (2023-24)
Chairman,
As in the Budgets of the past few years, the Financial Secretary will, in this year, continue to devote resources to the development of Hong Kong into a green city and combating climate change.
2. The Environment and Ecology Bureau has been proactive in pursuing decarbonisation in a bid to strive towards the goals of achieving carbon neutrality before 2050 and reducing carbon emission by half before 2035 from the 2005 level. On 1 January this year, we established the Office of Climate Change and Carbon Neutrality to strengthen co-ordination and promote deep decarbonisation.
3. Technological innovation plays a pivotal role in achieving carbon neutrality. Last year, the Financial Secretary injected an additional funding of $200 million into the Green Tech Fund (GTF), doubling the provision to $400 million. 22 projects from local universities, designated local public research institutes and private enterprises have been approved, involving a total grant of some $100 million. The third round of applications for GTF was closed last month, with a total of 80 applications received. We hope the approved R&D projects will help the industry develop environment technologies with commercialisation and application value, thereby expediting low-carbon transformation in Hong Kong.
4. Furthermore, in October 2021, the Government announced Hong Kong's Climate Action Plan 2050 that would lead Hong Kong towards the goal of carbon neutrality. Reducing reliance on fossil fuel in electricity generation and increasing the share of clean energy in the fuel mix for electricity generation can help achieving the target of carbon neutrality. However, low-carbon transformation of electricity generation will inevitably lead to an increase in the cost of electricity generation, and create greater pressure for tariff increase. To alleviate the impact of electricity tariff increase on households, this year’s Budget has proposed the extension of granting each eligible residential electricity account a monthly electricity charges relief of $50 to the end of 2025.
5. As for new energy transport, past measures have begun to yield results. More than half of the newly registered private cars were electric last year. Looking forward, we will continue to devote resources to promote trials and adoption of various electric modes of transport, including buses, light buses, taxis, goods vehicles, and ferries, etc.. We have set the target of introducing about 700 electric buses and 3 000 electric taxis by end 2027. At the same time, we will continue to expand the charging network, catering for the growth of electric vehicle adoption. Furthermore, the Government has set aside $200 million under the New Energy Transport Fund for progressively commencing trials of hydrogen fuel cell electric double-deck buses and heavy vehicles this year.
6. As regards the promotion of waste reduction and recycling, we continue to actively prepare for the implementation of municipal solid waste charging, targeting at end of this year. We will also continue to enhance complementary initiatives on promotion of recycling. With an additional funding of $62 million this year, we will progressively expand the scope of food waste collection to cover more public and private premises. The Trial Scheme on Food Waste Collection for Public Rental Housing Estates will also be extended to cover a total of 100 blocks, covering about 150 000 residents. Moreover, we will continue to expand the community recycling network by progressively developing small-scale Recycling Stores at about 50 public rental housing estates starting from this year and will increase the smart recycling application points to about 100, to facilitate members of the public to practise clean recycling.
7. Last but not least, we attach great importance to conserving Hong Kong’s natural environment. We have commenced the statutory process of establishing the Robin’s Nest Country Park and the North Lantau Marine Park, which is expected to be completed by 2024. To enrich the countryside outing experience of the general public, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department will continue to enhance the facilities in country parks, including constructing and reconstructing public toilets, providing new lookout points, enhancing hiking trails and examining the feasibility of establishing enhanced camping sites, treetop adventure and converting wartime relics into museums etc., by phases in the next two to three years. In addition, the Countryside Conservation Office will continue to facilitate the launch of diversified and innovative countryside conservation and revitalization projects through the Countryside Conservation Funding Scheme, and carry out countryside minor improvement works, such as repairing footpaths, renewing public sewerage system, examining flood prevention measures and introducing smart and low-carbon public washrooms, etc.
8. My colleagues and I are happy to listen to Members’ views and respond to questions.