Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po delivers a speech via video at the 14th Asian Financial Forum on Jan 19, 2021. (PHOTO / INFORMATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT, HKSAR GOVT)

HONG KONG - In face of challenges brought by global climate change, finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po has said Sunday that Hong Kong strives to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and a long-term strategy to reach this goal will be announced in mid-2021.

Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, said in his blog that in the past few years' budgets, investment was made in environmental protection and optimizing urban construction to improve the urban environment and air quality and make Hong Kong a more livable place.

In addition, the HKSAR government also announced in the 2020-21 budget that HK$200 million would be allocated for setting up Green Tech Fund to provide support for research and development and application of decarbonization and green technologies

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Meanwhile, the HKSAR government has adopted green finance services and related policies and measures to build and promote the development of green industries from various perspectives and create jobs, he added.

Chan said that in last year's budget, the HKSAR government proposed an allocation of more than HK$10 billion (US$1.29 billion) to implement various measures, which include promoting the popularization of electric vehicles, phasing out pre-Euro IV diesel commercial vehicles and launching a pilot scheme for electric ferries.

In addition, the HKSAR government also announced in the 2020-21 budget that HK$200 million would be allocated for setting up Green Tech Fund to provide support for research and development and application of decarbonization and green technologies. 

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