Opinion

A carbon-neutral Northern Metropolis. Now that’s a plan worth executing

There’s no reason the entire metropolis cannot be environmentally sustainable, low-carbon and socially resilient

Such groundbreaking work would give Hong Kong an edge in gaining valuable expertise, and be an opportunity to train local talent

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A general view of the northern area of the New Territories from Kwun Tung on October 23, the proposed site of the Northern Metropolis. Photo: Martin Chan

Christine Loh is chief development strategist at the Institute for the Environment, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Published: 10:15am, 7 Nov 2021

The strategy for the Northern Metropolis makes sense because Hong Kong and Shenzhen will benefit by being better integrated. There has never been such an opportunity for long-term planning for this thriving neighbourhood. What better project could there be than to plan it, at this early stage, as a carbon-neutral metropolis?

After all, China has just provided the highest-level political guidelines for the “new development philosophy” to achieve carbon neutrality, issued by the Central Committee and State Council on October 24. The State Council has also subsequently issued a white paper on climate change policy and actions.

Under the Northern Metropolis Development Strategy, a total of 300 sq km will be transformed, and will include land for reindustrialisation, innovation and technology, housing and ecological protection. It would not be a long stretch to add carbon neutrality to the strategy as it already contains many positive environmental elements.

A climate-conscious metropolis is one that goes as far as possible to achieve carbon neutrality. This requires our officials to do more calculations upfront. There are plenty of academics and professionals keen to collaborate on this exercise.