LETTER TO SCMP:
There sure is a lot we "must" do in Hong Kong according to your letter writers!
Just today, in a single screenshot of the Letters page on your App (see below) we see demands that we "must show we care" about voting rights; "must uphold the rights of climate activists"; must keep libraries "on trend"; and must allow retail prices "to fall further".
Today's letter from Lau Siu Kong [above] demands we must "step up the fight against climate change".
A couple of points:
1. Lau claims we have "significant carbon emissions per capita". According to Our World in Data, we are low, at 4.1 tonnes per capita per year. This is lower than the world average (4.7) and just half those of China (8.0). Our carbon emissions have come down in recent years thanks to our increased use of nuclear electricity from China and changing from coal-fired to natural gas-fired power stations. We can improve yet further by buying even more nuclear energy from China, as suggested by Dr Lam Ching-choi, head of the Council for Carbon Neutrality and Sustainable Development (Online here).
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| Daya Bay nuclear power station from where we get 25% of our electricity. Isn’t it nice, neat, pretty? Clean, green and small footprint We get a further 17% from Yanjiang Nuclear in Guangdong |
2. In terms of death and injury from climate events, Hong Kong has shown dramatic improvements: the number of deaths from typhoons alone has fallen by 99% since 1960 (HK Observatory). This mirrors similar trends worldwide, where we have seen a 98% reduction in deaths from climate disasters.
3. Sea level rise: scientists predict rises of a bit less than a foot, or 30cm, per century. Humans have overcome far swifter changes in sea levels in the past, and we can certainly do so in the future, as we are much more technically advanced. Hong Kong is more than able to handle such an increase. Large parts of The Netherlands are already below sea level, and have been for centuries, yet they hold the sea at bay. If the Dutch have figured out how to stay dry, so can we.
4. As for “severe weather patterns” I’ve commented before on the alleged stronger typhoons. Short story: there is no increase in typhoon severity. There may be more frequent heavy rain events, which we are more than capable of handling, by improved flood control.
I'm fully behind more renewables, more nuclear energy, and more sensible climate change mitigation, such as improved flood control.
But could we please cease our climate panic? Mitigation of CO2 and abatement of climate change are improving across the planet and we must recognise this to have a sound basis for policy going forward.
Policies based on panic are rarely sound policies.
PF, etc…
Sent from my iPad
