Hong Kong’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions fall to record low in 2024

Hong Kong’s greenhouse gas emissions per capita fell to a new low of 4.41 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂-e) in 2024, down 3.5 percent from 2023, according to the Environment and Ecology Bureau. The figure is roughly a quarter of the US level and 60 percent of the EU’s.

The city’s total emissions fell to about 33.2 million tonnes, down 3.6 percent year on year. Carbon intensity – 0.011 kilograms of CO₂-e per Hong Kong dollar of gross domestic product – fell sharply by about 6 percent.

The bureau said Hong Kong’s emissions peaked in 2014. Compared with that year, total emissions, per capita emissions, and carbon intensity have dropped about 27 percent, 30 percent and 35 percent, respectively.

Electricity generation, transport and waste management remain the city’s three largest sources of emissions, accounting for 61 percent, 18 percent and 8 percent. Emissions from these sources fell by 3.5 percent, 3.7 percent and 9 percent, respectively, thanks to a shift from coal to natural gas and zero-carbon energy, wider adoption of electric vehicles, reduced municipal solid waste disposal, and increased use of landfill gas for energy.

The bureau said the drop in emissions from waste management was especially notable. Municipal solid waste sent to landfills fell 3.4 percent, while energy recovered from landfill gas rose nearly 12 percent.