Hong Kong’s data centre boom: Powering innovation or jeopardising climate goals?
Steven Chan writes that “behind the gleaming servers and promised economic gains lies a sobering reality: our data centres are becoming one of the territory’s largest electricity consumers and carbon emitters, and current energy conservation policy is dangerously out of date.”
City must proactively secure essential resources
In this regard, as far as I can tell, the only aid offered by the Hong Kong government was the weekly publication of retail fuel prices after discounts offered by oil companies, starting on April 1. However, critics said this was simply inadequate. On April 9, the government proposed providing diesel subsidies to public and commercial vehicles and vessels, and related industries, and reducing tunnel tolls by half for commercial vehicles. Why does our government only seem to react to escalating public pressure rather than itself considering the needs of the public, particularly during difficult times?
Let’s do better on paper and plastic bottle recycling
The government is suggesting a rebate of at least 10 cents and aiming for a 30 per cent recycling rate for plastic containers and 10 per cent for cartons. Hong Kong should adopt similarly ambitious measures, with refunds between 50 HK cents and HK$1, to align with the goals of the Waste Blueprint for Hong Kong 2035.





