The government of Hong Kong published the Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2030+ report in 2017 as a response to the Paris Agreement. The report states Hong Kong’s carbon emission reduction target for 2030 and outlines action plans to meet it. Hong Kong has pledged to reduce 65 to 70 percent of its carbon intensity per gross domestic product (GDP) by 2 030, using 2005 as the base. This is equivalent to a 26 to 36 percent reduction from 2005 emissions levels and an expected reduction to 3.3–3.8 tonnes on a per capita basis, compared with 6 tonnes per capita in 2005.

While not a party to the Paris Agreement itself, Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of China contributes to the fulfillment of China’ s Nationally Determined Contribution of the Paris Agreement. Hong Kong similarly plays a part in contributing to meeting the long-term target of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increase to less than 1. 5 to 2 degrees Celsius. Hong Kong currently does not have a long-term decarbonization strategy or target beyond 2030 in place. Thus, it is critical for Hong Kong to formulate a long-term decarbonization plan to which the short- and medium-term actions could conform.

In order to inspire ambition and mobilize action to advance Hong Kong through a cross-sectoral transition toward long-term deep decarbonization, World Resources Institute (WRI) and Civic Exchange (CE) jointly initiated the project “Hong Kong 2050 Is Now.” Under this project, WRI and CE collaborated with Energy Innovation LLC to develop the Hong Kong Energy Policy Simulator (EPS), which aims to provide technical support for developing Hong Kong’s 2050 deep decarbonization strategy. The “Hong Kong 2050 Is Now” project provides policy recommendations based on the results of the Hong Kong EPS. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong EPS also allows users to create their own scenarios to see impacts of different policy combinations.

This technical note describes the structure, input data sources, outputs, limitations, and future development, as well as the online interface, of the Hong Kong EPS. A subsequent policy report will present the model’s results and policy recommendations in more detail.