The 35th Meeting of the Expert Group on Energy Data & Analysis (EGEDA35) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is being held in Hong Kong today and tomorrow.

Delivering a welcome speech at the meeting today, Secretary for Environment & Ecology 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 in Hong Kong to share insights and exchange their energy data and analysis experience.

Discussion topics 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.

Mr Tse noted that APEC economies consume about 60% 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 added that Hong Kong is striving to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050 and pursue the reduction of Hong Kong's carbon emissions by 50% 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 & Regasification Unit at the Hong Kong Offshore Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal, district cooling systems and new energy vehicles to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050.

The environment chief 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 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.