Hong Kong official calls Trump climate pullback ‘disappointing’
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Hong Kong is routinely affected by severe weather phenomena such as typhoons and heavy rainfall, and the intensity of rains has worsened in recent years.
PHOTO: AFP
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HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s financial secretary slammed the US’ pullback from environment-friendly policies, while drawing attention to the city’s goals to boost global green finance.
“The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement
“It weakens collective commitment” and complicates the path for climate finance flows from richer nations to emerging economies, he added.
US President Donald Trump’s anti-climate agenda risks derailing the commitment that all countries made at COP29 in November 2024 to triple annual climate finance by 2035.
The US contributed about US$11 billion (S$14 billion) to climate finance in 2024, among the largest from individual countries, but that was dominated by costly loans rather than grants.
Mr Chan’s comments came as Hong Kong suspended schools
Hong Kong is routinely affected by severe weather phenomena such as typhoons and heavy rainfall, and the intensity of rains has worsened in recent years.
Mr Chan said the city aims to boost its role in transition finance, with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Sept 8 launching a consultation to expand its rules for green finance to include targets for emissions reduction for hard-to-abate sectors.
Known as the Hong Kong Taxonomy, the new version will also include rules to grow the financing of infrastructure and other sectors for dealing with the impact of climate change.
The financial secretary added that Hong Kong is on track to meet its goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50 per cent before 2035 from a 2005 baseline. BLOOMBERG
