MOTION ON “EXPEDITIOUSLY KICK-STARTING THE CONSTRUCTION OF A CARBON INCLUSIVE MARKET”
Deputy President, energy conservation, emission reduction, and green and low-carbon development are closely related to the daily lives of individuals and families. However, carbon trading markets, which are more commonly known to the public, are currently only available for the participation of large enterprises and countries, and it is rather difficult for individuals and small and medium enterprises to participate in them. A carbon inclusive market can precisely bridge this gap by specifically quantifying energy conservation and carbon reduction practices of micro, small and medium enterprises, families and individuals through means such as business incentives or policy encouragement, and assigning these practices certain values to guide the public towards adopting a green lifestyle. I am very grateful to Dr Hoey Simon LEE for proposing this motion today to urge the SAR Government to expeditiously formulate policies for a carbon inclusive market and initiate platform construction work.
Although Hong Kong has not yet established a carbon inclusive market, a similar concept exists in the already-mentioned GREEN$ Electronic Participation Incentive Scheme. This scheme encourages citizens to integrate waste reduction and recycling habits into their daily lives by allowing them to earn bonus points and redeem gifts through recycling items.
In recent years, local governments in the Mainland have been actively promoting many carbon inclusive mechanisms and platforms, such as Beijing’s “Green Travel Carbon Inclusive” platform, Guangdong’s “Carbon Inclusive Service Platform” mini-program and Shenzhen’s “Blue Planet”. All of these initiatives encourage the public to adopt low-carbon behaviours, such as saving water, electricity and gas, and using public transportation, through the use of “carbon coins”.
Enterprise-led platforms, which were established even earlier, are more numerous. The most successful example is “Ant Forest” of Alibaba’s Ant Group. The platform integrates daily applications such as walking trackers, shared bikes, and food delivery platforms to record users’ low-carbon behaviours, including commuting, the “Clear Your Plate” campaign, and green recycling, which are subsequently quantified into virtual energy. Users may choose to redeem goods or plant virtual trees. For every virtual tree planted by users, “Ant Forest” will plant a corresponding real tree in desertified areas, enabling users to tangibly experience that their behaviours are contributing to the global environment.
Carbon inclusive construction requires long-term investment and operational support, with government leadership, enterprise cooperation and public participation being indispensable. The SAR Government may draw on the current successful experiences of the Mainland and introduce top-level design and policy proposals applicable to Hong Kong in establishing a carbon inclusive market and platform in phases.
During the first stage, low-carbon behaviours could be screened by employing means such as establishing a carbon emission accounting mechanism and assessing carbon emission reduction potential to determine eligible low-carbon behaviours and emission reduction standards.
In the second phase, a carbon inclusive platform could be built on the basis of the GREEN$ scheme by incorporating more low-carbon behaviour data, such as green commuting, environmental protection and recycling and green consumption, thereby providing a unified service platform.
In the third stage, social resources could be consolidated to establish a diverse carbon inclusive incentive mechanism involving the participation of the Government, public welfare organizations, businesses and financial institutions. As an example, the Government could issue energy-saving vouchers, increase product options for redemption, or even offer free charging for electric vehicles as part of the bonus point redemption scenarios. These incentive measures could be transformed into a long-lasting operational mechanism that enhances public enthusiasm for taking low-carbon actions and promotes active participation in the carbon inclusive platform across society.
Finally, when the local carbon inclusive market and carbon trading market have matured, the carbon emission reductions from carbon inclusivity can be linked to the carbon market. This would enable carbon assets formed on the daily life consumption end to be used for pledging, trading, gifting and other activities, thereby promoting the achievement of carbon neutrality.
The financial sector also has a role to play in carbon inclusivity. In addition to fulfilling their social responsibility of inclusive finance, financial institutions could also harness data-driven technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to conduct in-depth research on low-carbon practices. This includes innovating their own products and services, such as issuing carbon credit cards, carbon bonus points, “carbon coins” and other financial products, to guide more individuals to participate in low-carbon environmental protection and green actions.
As a matter of fact, carbon inclusive construction is a long-term project that requires widespread participation and joint efforts from enterprises and citizens. Therefore, I support the original motion moved by Dr Hoey Simon LEE today and the two amendments.
I so submit.