Global and Local Carbon Footprints of Hong Kong and Macao from 2000 to 2015

Abstract:

Hong Kong and Macao are featured with their urban metabolism as they heavily rely on the energy and resource supply from other regions. However there has been a lack of a comprehensive perspective to depict their CO₂ emissions due to the independence of statistical data. Here we analyze the carbon footprints of Hong Kong and Macao. We investigate the direct energy-related emissions (Scope 1), the emissions of cross-boundary electricity (Scope 2) and the embodied emissions accumulated in supply chains (Scope 3). We showed that their Scope 1 footprint stabilized at 50 Mt, accounting for 0.6% of that from Mainland China in 2018. More importantly, we find that their global footprints were about three times of their Scope 1 emissions, accompanied by a continuous growth between 2000 and 2015, and the contribution of their local footprints has doubled on average during this period. We also show that their Scope 3 emissions were mainly due to the enormous unfavorable balance of trade, meanwhile, the increasing impact of imports’ higher emission intensity should not be ignored. We suggest that as typically developed cities outsourcing production through supply chains, Hong Kong and Macao should adjust their mitigation policies that focus only on Scope 1 emissions.