Last year our recommendations for budget year focused on the action needed given Climate Change. In the year since, scientific warnings of the threats from climate change have become clearer while the global response remains inadequate. The consequences of this include:
- The transition to the global Net Zero economy, which is required to stop increasing global temperatures, will have to be faster and hence representing a more foreseeable financing opportunity
- Substantial sums must be spent on adapting to rising sea levels and changes in the climate.
The size of the expenditure on this issue was noted in the $240 billion budget in the next 15 to 20 years advised in the ‘Policy Measures’ publication which accompanied the October 2022 Policy Address. We kindly ask that budget provide a breakdown of this total by year and activity. In addition, we recommend budget to advise measures in the next three years to accelerate action on climate change. In particular:
- Fiscal policy action to reduce economic risks associated with the global transition to Net Zero.
- Infrastructure funding to respond to the physical risks due to climate change.
- Action to support Hong Kong’s Financial Services participating in Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP). This can both boost Hong Kong’s income from this sector and make an important contribution to accelerating decarbonising the electricity supply in lower income countries.
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