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The Daya Bay nuclear power plant in Shenzhen. A recent report suggests increasing nuclear power imports could help Hong Kong accelerate its decarbonisation goals. Photo: AP

Opinion Letters

Letters | Nuclear power imports can help speed Hong Kong to zero-carbon goals

Readers discuss climate change targets in the latest policy address, Hong Kong’s housing needs, annuity payments, power sources and hotel quarantine rules

Climate change

Letters

Published: 6:30am, 19 Oct 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

In her 2021 policy address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor reaffirmed the city’s commitment to a 2050 decarbonisation target that was announced last year. She introduced key initiatives in this speech, including the creation of an Office of Climate Change and Carbon Neutrality under the Environment Bureau.

One key miss in the speech, however, was a new interim target of reducing carbon emissions by 50 per cent before 2035 over 2005 levels. That midterm target does not respond adequately to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s call in 2018 for reductions in global emissions by 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030.

Hong Kong must follow the science and bring forward its 50 per cent reduction target to 2030. The difference of five years is significant, and delays will have irreversible consequences for environmental and human health.

How can this be achieved? If the government disrupts “business as usual” power systems with low-carbon energy sources, it can fast-track decarbonisation without sacrificing energy security.

In “Powering a Carbon-Free Hong Kong” – a recent report from independent think tank Civic Exchange and global research group World Resources Institute – researchers found that a decarbonised power system with a high ratio of imported nuclear energy could have economic advantages. This would allow us to reduce power system emissions by more than 50 per cent before 2030.

To achieve this, the Hong Kong government and the two local power companies should immediately begin negotiations on joint venture investment agreements with mainland counterparts to secure stable, adequate and decarbonised energy for the city.

We are seeing encouraging moves from Hong Kong’s private sector. In April, Link Asset Management announced a net-zero strategy by 2035, including a 30 per cent reduction in electricity usage across the portfolio. Swire also committed to a 50 per cent greenhouse gas reduction target by 2030 compared with a 2018 baseline from direct operations.

Both companies’ commitments are beyond Hong Kong’s latest interim targets. The government should take the existing corporate targets as references for the city so we can align with global scientific consensus.

Hong Kong is ready to advance our decarbonisation goals. It is encouraging to see the city taking action in this regard. Let’s make sure we act immediately, with greater ambition and according to science.

Without Hong Kong taking a coordinated approach alongside global action, limiting global warming to close to 1.5 degrees Celsius or even 2 degrees will be beyond our reach. That will mean more heatwaves, storm surges and extreme weather that will challenge public health, our nature and our economy.

Lawrence Iu, Climate Change & Partnerships Lead, Civic Exchange

Treat annuity payments as income to help elderly

There has been heated debate lately about making it mandatory for residents to convert their Mandatory Provident Fund plans into annuity upon retirement. I think it is important to make the public annuity scheme more attractive first.

People generally do not realise how difficult it can be to carry on with their daily life without any income proof after retiring. It ranges from obtaining a credit card to guaranteeing an instalment purchase or applying for a mortgage loan.

I know a couple who receive a combined annuity payment of almost HK$30,000 (US$3,800) per month but failed to obtain a mortgage loan because all the banks they approached told them their annuity payment cannot be treated as part of their income. This does not make any sense. As the government has said, the purpose of the annuity scheme is to help people create a steady stream of income for their retirement.

Let’s start with the banks. The government should tell the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to ask the banks to treat annuity payments as income. Banks themselves should know very well that annuity payments are better than pensions or salaried income.

They are better than a pension because an annuity is an insurance product and its payout is not subject to tax. One pays tax on pension received. Salaried income is even more inferior because a person who has a salary today could lose their job tomorrow, but the annuitant will receive their annuity payment until they die.

Recognising annuity payments as income will only make the banking system more safe and sound. There are no issues of compromising the integrity of banks.

By 2028, Hong Kong is projected to have a quarter of its population aged over 65. If we can help these people continue with their life and economic activities, significant economic benefits will go downstream. The government should take the lead in recognising annuity payments as income, except for tax assessment purposes.

A. Wong, Tsim Sha Tsui

City needs housing solutions now, not in 20 years

The so-called charm initiative by the central government’s liaison office in reaching out to the grass roots in Hong Kong is a reminder that Beijing is turning on the ropes and making sure that everyone knows who is the boss (“What should Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam make of Beijing’s ‘listening tours’?”, October 14)

Our government had 24 years to show it could manage Hong Kong. Ultimately, it disappointed not only Beijing but, most importantly, our entire society.

The latest policy address of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor showed a lack of emphasis on the most urgent needs of our community. Instead of a new Northern Metropolis, cage homes, subdivided flats, rental caps and the shortening of public housing waiting lists should have been on top of the agenda.

A project that needs at least 20 years to materialise is not what we are waiting for. We need action now, and this means cutting back on bureaucracy and red tape. We have too many advisory bodies and external consultants which only come up with recommendations the government likes to hear.

It is time for the government to roll up its sleeves, admit its failures and show that Hong Kong’s identity will be preserved in the coming 26 years during which “one country, two systems” is set to prevail.

Peter den Hartog, Tuen Mun

Old power sources can coexist with green energy

When my British friends visit me in Moscow, I take them to my university town of St Petersburg, which is famous for its art galleries. There is a painting there in the State Russian Museum – Barge Haulers on the Volga – depicting men dragging a barge while in the background another vessel is driven by a steam engine.

The old also coexists with the new in sources of energy, with green wind and solar power stations being too dependent on weather (“China looks to Russian coal to help ease its power shortage crisis”, October 14).

The West’s attempt to rely on green energy proves an adage in Latin – Quod volumus, facile credimus, or we readily believe what we want to believe. The Kremlin follows a different adage – if the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain – and started building floating nuclear power stations.

We no longer have barge haulers in Russia, but a World War II veteran once told me that the trophy steam engine locomotives on which our soldiers returned from Germany in 1945 are kept intact and perfectly serviceable, just in case. The Chinese authorities are likewise prudent in not demolishing coal power stations.

Mergen Mongush, Moscow

Review of hotel quarantine safety rules timely

While we agreed to the three-week quarantine on arrival in Hong Kong, we did not expect to have to challenge its rules.

We agreed to regular PCR testing but did not expect to see four to five nursing attendants showing up for each test. When I asked the attendant administering one of the tests when he was last tested, he said he was fully vaccinated and that his last PCR test was “two weeks ago”.

The remaining four attendants chose not to answer. It would seem that the quarantine hotel residents who have had three PCR tests before the one in question were at unnecessary risk.

We followed up with the Department of Health with the view to have residents administer the test in the room. The response was a polite “no”.

With the government now expected to tighten the testing regime for quarantine hotel workers, we hope that includes the nursing attendants administering the tests.

Harry Symington, Ma On Shan

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