Hong Kong's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2023 amounted to approximately 34.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e), representing about 20 percent decrease compared to the 2005 levels and about 25 percent decrease from the peak emissions in 2014, official data showed on Thursday.

The per capita GHG emissions in 2023 reached a new low since 1990, at approximately 4.58 tonnes CO2-e. It is nearly 30 percent lower than those in 2005 and 2014, and is about a quarter of that of the United States and 60 percent of that of the European Union, according to the latest emission inventory published by the Environment and Ecology Bureau.

The carbon intensity was about 0.012 kilograms of CO2-e per Hong Kong dollar of GDP, representing a decrease of about 46 percent compared to 2005, it added.

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Releasing the 2023 GHG emission inventory, the bureau also announced that it had updated its methodology for compiling the GHG emission inventory in accordance with the requirements of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The three main sources of GHG emissions in Hong Kong are electricity generation (61 percent), transport (18 percent), and waste management (8 percent), according to the government.

With the gradual replacement of coal with natural gas and zero-carbon energy for electricity generation, popularization of electric vehicles, decrease in municipal solid waste quantity and increase in landfill gas recovery and utilization in the city, GHG emissions from electricity generation, transport, and waste management have declined by approximately about 32 percent, 7 percent, and 10 percent, respectively, compared to 2014, the data showed.

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As outlined in Hong Kong's Climate Action Plan 2050, the SAR government will continue to implement the four major decarbonization strategies – net-zero electricity generation, energy saving and green buildings, green transport and waste reduction – to align with the country's "dual carbon" target to achieve the peak of carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.

Since 2013, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has been compiling its GHG emission inventory based on the global warming potential values provided in the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As decided by the UNFCCC at the 27th Conference of the Parties in 2022, global warming potential values set out in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) shall be used to calculate GHG emission inventory by no later than the end of 2024.

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Complying with the UNFCCC requirement, the SAR government has used the AR5's GWP values to compile the 2023 GHG emission inventory and update previous GHG emission figures to reflect annual variations and long-term trends.