35th Meeting of APEC Expert Group on Energy Data and Analysis held in Hong Kong (with photos)

     The 35th Meeting of the Expert Group on Energy Data and Analysis (EGEDA35) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is being held in Hong Kong today and tomorrow (January 17 and 18).
 
     Delivering a welcoming speech at the meeting today, the Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, said that Hong Kong is honoured to host the EGEDA35 to provide a platform for direct dialogue among APEC partners. Over 40 experts and delegates from nine APEC member economies as well as two international organisations are gathered to share insights and exchange experiences on energy data and analysis with their counterparts. Discussion topics of EGEDA35 include updates of the work of the EGEDA on annual data collection, an overview of energy supply and demand in APEC, the progress of APEC goals, and data collection of new energy technologies, etc.
 
     Mr Tse said that APEC economies consume approximately 60 per cent of the world's energy. As the members continue their speedy recovery from the epidemic and their focus on economic development, energy consumption will continue to increase, leading to an exponential increase in carbon emissions. Thus, there is an imminent need to expedite the energy transition to an environmental-friendly framework to achieve a climate-safe future.
 
     He further said that Hong Kong is striving to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050 and pursue the reduction of Hong Kong's carbon emissions by 50 per cent before 2035 from the 2005 level. In this connection, Hong Kong is actively engaging new energy technologies in accordance with the major decarbonisation strategies outlining in the Climate Action Plan, such as the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit at the Hong Kong Offshore Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal, district cooling systems, and new energy vehicles, etc to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. Mr Tse also encouraged the use of energy data analyses and modelling tools to provide insightful information on energy trends in driving transition towards a sustainable future.
 
     The Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services, Mr Eric Pang, shared the latest energy developments in Hong Kong at the meeting today. He thanked APEC member economies for their continued efforts to combat climate change, and stressed that close co-operation must be maintained in order to meet the climate change challenges.
 
     The EGEDA is an expert group under the APEC Energy Working Group, which is responsible for providing policy-relevant energy information to APEC bodies and the wider community through collecting energy data of the APEC region and managing the operation of the APEC energy database. The EGEDA comprises members from the 21 APEC economies and meets once a year. In November 2020, Hong Kong, China hosted the Joint Meeting of EGEDA and APEC Expert Group on Energy Efficiency and Conservation.