The Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC) today (August 4) officially launched the Carbon Neutrality Publicity Campaign. The Campaign will cover a series of large-scale publicity activities in the next two years to raise public awareness on the imminence of climate change, and the need to reverse habits and reduce carbon together in energy saving, green transport and waste reduction at source in order to tackle climate change.

The Campaign, with funding support from the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF), is organised by the ECC, and co-organised by the Environment and Ecology Bureau, the Environmental Protection Department and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department. The objective of the Campaign is to encourage members of the public to act in line with the decarbonisation strategies proposed in the Hong Kong's Climate Action Plan 2050 promulgated by the Government in 2021. It is important for the public to start making changes in their daily habits in respect of clothing, food, living and travel to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Officiating at the launch ceremony at the City Gallery in Central, the Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, kick-started the Campaign. In his speech, Mr Tse expounded on the decarbonisation strategies in the Hong Kong's Climate Action Plan 2050, and said that the Government will continue to develop zero-carbon energy, try using new energy solutions, and strengthen regional co-operation to achieve "net-zero power generation". To achieve the goals of zero vehicular emissions and zero carbon emissions in the transport sector in the longer term before 2050, the Government will continue promoting new energy transport including buses, light buses, taxis, goods vehicles and ferries, etc. As to waste reduction, the Government will carry on expanding the community recycling network to promote waste reduction at source and clean recycling, and develop a new generation of waste-to-energy facilities to reduce reliance on landfills. At the same time, the Government will prepare for the implementation of municipal solid waste charging.

Other officiating guests of the ceremony included the Chairman of the ECC, Professor Simon Wong; the Chairman of the ECF Committee, Dr Eric Cheng; the Convenor of the Education Working Group under the ECC, Mr Wong Chi-keung; and the Permanent Secretary for Environment and Ecology (Environment), Miss Janice Tse.

The ECC will roll out a series of publicity activities to the public to promote how to reduce carbon emissions, including broadcasting a new promotional video on TV and social media platforms. Premiered at the launch ceremony, the promotional video stresses the extreme climate change faced across the whole world, and appeals for public participation in committing to low carbon living by changing their habits and striving together for carbon neutrality by 2050.

After the launch ceremony, Mr Tse joined the guests to visit the carbon neutrality information kiosk at the City Gallery manned by student representatives of the Student Environmental Protection Ambassador Scheme organised by the ECC. The kiosk will be open to the public from August 5 until September 30.

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