HONG KONG, 31st December 2020 — Civic Exchange submitted to the Financial Secretary as well as several other involved Government Bureaus recommendations for the upcoming Electric Vehicle Roadmap.
The submission is in response to the Financial Secretary’s announcement for the 2020/21 Budget in February 2020 that the HKSAR Government plans to launch Hong Kong’s first Electric Vehicle Roadmap (EV Roadmap).
The submission is made on behalf of Civic Exchange, the Clean Air Network and Hong Kong 2050 Is Now – and is addressed to the relevant bureaus and departments of the Government which will be crucial in formulating this EV Roadmap.
We seek to draw the attention of policymakers to the importance of including both commercial vehicles and public transport in the EV Roadmap to achieve both clean air and decarbonization goals and to harmonize with the policy goals and standards committed to on an international level.
Electrification of the vehicular fleet must proceed in well-planned steps, and thus the HKSAR Government needs to set ambitious goals in the EV Roadmap to accelerate the transformation of road transport to ultimately reach zero emissions.
Our key recommendations for an effective transition which should be considered for the upcoming EV Roadmap are, therefore:
- Establishing a policy vision, targets and measures for all commercial vehicles including public transport.
- Formulating an EV Action Plan with stage-wise developments, close engagement of public and private stakeholders, appropriate subsidies, streamlined approval processes and better trial design.
- Clarifying the institutional roles of involved Government Bureaus and Departments.
- Strengthening the membership of the Steering Committee on the Promotion of Electric Vehicles.
This submission outlines the scientific basis as well as the local and regional policy background (Part 1), offers a perspective on the challenges of transforming vehicular fleets, tracing progress, findings of past policies and studies, and observations from recent stakeholder engagements (Part 2), and details out our policy recommendations (Part 3) to achieve clean air and decarbonization goals.
