"Join world cities in action on climate, HK urged"

Leading European politicians yesterday urged Hong Kong to join a network of cities sharing their experiences on climate change and to put all climate-change policies in the hands of a single, powerful top official.

Anders Wijkman, a Swedish member of the European Parliament, and British member of parliament Elliot Morley made those appeals at a seminar on climate change organised by the British consulate-general and Civic Exchange.

Mr Wijkman, the parliament's rapporteur for a post-2012 agreement on climate change, said that since environmental issues involved diverse factors and sectors, it was best to if policy and implementation was put in the hands of one powerful top official.

In Europe, for the past couple of years, climate change is no longer just an environmental issue," he said. "If I were in Hong Kong, I would not put the responsibility on the environmental protection [authority], but on the chief minister, because it affects all sectors."

Mr Morley, Prime Minister Tony Blair's special representative on the Gleneagles climate change dialogue set up by the Group of Eight nations, said Hong Kong could learn more about how to deal with the issue if it followed London and New York in joining some low-carbon-city networks.

Although Mr Morley did not name any networks, some of the most cited are the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group - which involves leaders of 46 of the most polluted cities, including London and New York - and the World Cities Leadership Summit.

"Hong Kong's involvement in that kind of organisation, where people can share experience and ideas, can be a very good thing," Mr Morley said after the breakfast seminar, "The Politics of Climate Change - Shaping Post-Kyoto".

It was held as talks about climate change in Hong Kong are intensifying before an International Conference on Climate Change in the city later this month.

Mr Wijkman said various sectors, from food to agriculture, had a significant impact on carbon dioxide emissions and that it was difficult to oversee them holistically under different policy portfolios. The European Union was considering action on all fronts, from limiting vehicle carbon emissions to eco-product design, he said.

Mr Morley said moving towards a low-carbon economy was an inevitable trend that was bound to affect people's daily lives. "Carbon will become as important as their salaries, and it will be managed at the individual level," he said, citing Britain's innovative proposal of a personal carbon credit card - through which a person can track the carbon footprint of their purchases.

The European politicians flew to Beijing yesterday to meet officials from the environment and resources committee under the National People's Congress.

(15 May, 2007, SCMP)