Friends of the Earth (HK)

Current API at 21:00

07 September 2010

South China Morning Post
7 Jan 2010

Don't Wait for Leaders to Set Our Carbon Targets

Leaders of both developed and developing nations have continued to criticise each other after the curtains closed on the Copenhagen drama.

But perhaps we should not be blaming the negotiators and governments who made this critical world climate conference a failure, as this will not change the outcome.

Instead, every leader who attended should re-examine the master plans of his or her own city or country and draw up the most cost-effective and practical programmes to return to the sustainable path immediately.

And they should not wait for the largest greenhouse-gas emitters to get started; climate disasters could prove more catastrophic than any scientists can currently predict.

Asking more than 190 nations to agree on a common target for reducing greenhouse gases is a bit like asking every person sitting around a dining table to agree unanimously not to eat beyond a certain limit. Those with bigger appetites don't want to be limited, and those who ate little in the past will be tempted to eat more. In the end, no one wants to be the first to make sacrifices and everyone only considers his or her own needs, rather than the common good.

Researchers from Princeton University have suggested that, instead of waiting for a truly binding emissions-reduction target to be worked out in the coming months or year, people working on an individual level could be a feasible way forward.

Under this approach, it is clear that individuals with bigger carbon footprints, whether in the US or on the mainland, should start working to reduce their consumption of things like food, materials and energy, to bring their carbon footprint down to levels closer to that of the world average.

Here in Hong Kong, the government can shamefully hide behind mainland China, which is not obligated to follow any targets under the Kyoto Protocol - while the new Copenhagen Accord has no binding targets to follow.

Why can't our government be brave and farsighted, and set an ambitious greenhouse-gas reduction target - rather than following the misleading energy intensity target - to demonstrate that China's wealthiest city is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and leading other cities in China, as well as neighbouring countries, towards the low-carbon development path.

Shying away from specific targets for reducing emissions is an irresponsible act by government leaders. I hope Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen will not be one of them, as he has made clear in his latest policy address that climate change is one of the most important issues for his administration. I can't see anything to stop him setting the right targets for Hong Kong.

While we wait for the administration to set its targets, every individual and business should, as the Princeton researchers advise, come up with their own carbon-reduction targets.

This is one way of telling the government that Hongkongers are ready to act now for a low-carbon, sustainable future.

Edwin Lau Che-feng is director of Friends of the Earth (HK)

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