Hong Kong

Our oceans are the most important ecosystem on the planet. They provide a third of our world with food, produce more oxygen than all the rainforests combined, remove half of the atmosphere’s manmade carbon dioxide and control our planet’s temperature and weather. Individuals and businesses both have a responsibility to protect our precious and delicate ecosystems – as consumers, we can demand more sustainably sourced products; and as businesses, by creating better systems of production and innovating to reduce their impact on the Earth.

Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container-shipping company, has fired a warning shot across the bows of the Hong Kong Government, threatening to stop using cleaner fuel at port in Hong Kong next year if there is no regulation in place mandating that all shipping lines do the same. The Danish shipping line has been a prominent supporter of the Fair Winds Charter, a voluntary scheme by the Hong Kong shipping industry to use fuel of 0.5 percent sulphur content or less “to the maximum extent possible” while at berth in Hong Kong from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2012.

CLP Power Hong Kong is extending free charging for electric vehicles (EVs) at all of its charging stations until the end of 2013 to encourage more commuters to switch to low-carbon driving.

Following the lead of its northern masters, Hong Kong has announced a plan to remove high-polluting vehicles and to replace its massive fleet of diesel-powered buses and trucks. According to undersecretary for environment, Christine Loh, the government will begin a “carrot and stick” approach starting in the New Year to begin tackling a problem which has been bandied about with no real consequence for over 15 years.

Hong Kong’s clean energy supply has been given a boost with the news that China's second west-to-east gas pipeline is ready to supply natural gas to the city, as branch lines linking Hong Kong with the pipeline went into operation this week.