Patsy Moy and Nishika Patel
Saturday, December 08, 2007: HK Standard
China Light and Power has pledged not to build any more coal plants in Hong Kong while setting a global target to cut its carbon intensity – the amount of carbon emitted per unit of energy used.
CLP, the producer of electricity in six Asian economies, will set a group- wide target of reduction at 75 percent by 2050 to benefit from global emissions trading.
The company has also fixed interim targets for emission cuts for 2010, 2020 and 2035.
As part of its strategy, CLP will boost investments in renewable energy, including an 82.4-megawatt wind farm in India.
The Environmental Protection Department welcomed CLP’s green policies.
But the green initiatives have failed to please local environmentalists who accused the Hong Kong company of “playing with figures and jargon.”
They said the benefits to be brought by the company’s green policies remain uncertain.
Friends of the Earth environmental affairs manager Hahn Chu hon-keung criticized the Hong Kong-based company for declining to specify the amount of carbon to be reduced in the city.
“It doesn’t mean the company should only protect Hong Kong’s environment at the expense of other places. But as a Hong Kong-based company, it should specify its pledge for Hong Kong people,” Chu said.
Frances Yeung Hoi-shan, Green Peace’s climate and energy campaigner, also accused CLP of not spelling out its target reduction rate for specific places except Australia.
CLP has a subsidiary in Australia which has set a standard to cap emissions, according to Yeung.
She also explained that the carbon intensity reduction did not amount to an actual cut in carbon emissions if the company continued to increase its energy production.
“They are playing with figures to give the public an impression that they are a green company,” she claimed, adding that power plants are Hong Kong’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, accounting for about 70 percent of total CO2 emissions in the city.
“The government only restricts power plants’ air pollutants at the moment but to combat climate change, it should also regulate their CO2 emissions.
“If power plants exceed the caps, they should be penalized financially,” she said.
CLP on Friday said a major initiative for Hong Kong is to bring in a liquefied natural gas terminal to increase natural gas in fuel mix of up to 50 percent for power generation against the current 30 percent.
Developing an offshore wind farm in Hong Kong is a possibility that the company will also look into.
CLP now operates one coal-fired power plant in Hong Kong at the Castle Peak power station.
The company said it is committed to not building new coal-fired power stations in Hong Kong or in developed countries.
It has plans for a transition from conventional coal to more climate-friendly fuels or technologies.
In developing countries where the company has conventional coal-fired generation plants, it will ensure they can be fitted with carbon capture and storage equipment to tackle emissions.