Climate Change Mitigation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Abstract

Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy as a Special Administrative Region of China. Unlike China itself, Hong Kong is not a party to international climate change agreements. While China has declared that the Paris Agreement and other climate change agreements apply to Hong Kong, the implementation measures for Mainland China in fact do not apply to Hong Kong. Its unique position under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle has frequently led to Hong Kong being left out of international cooperation on climate change mitigation. Nevertheless, as this article recounts, the government of Hong Kong has shown increasing interest in promoting climate change mitigation—or at least in being seen to do so. In January 2017, Hong Kong adopted the ‘Climate Action Plan 2030+’, which is, in essence, a regionally determined contribution to mitigation. 1