As we navigate the early months of 2026, the urgency of our climate mission remains clearer than ever. Following a year in which global temperatures reached 1.44°C above pre-industrial levels and Hong Kong endured record-breaking heat, the engineering community's role in accelerating decarbonisation is paramount. While our city has successfully reduced per capita emissions to 4.41 tonnes in 2024 (30% lower than that in 2014), achieving carbon neutrality before 2050 requires us to embrace innovative energy vectors such as hydrogen to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors.

From my experience in both the energy sector and banking industry, I have seen firsthand that technical innovation alone is not enough; it must be coupled with market confidence. This is why the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department’s (EMSD) recent launch of the “Consultation Paper: Green Hydrogen Standard Certification Scheme” is a landmark development. This initiative aligns with the Government's broader “Strategy on Hydrogen Development in Hong Kong”, providing the regulatory clarity necessary to transition from pilot projects to a mature hydrogen economy.

The proposed voluntary scheme aims to establish a transparent, internationally aligned framework for certifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) performance of hydrogen products. Critically, it adopts a “well-to-consumption gate” lifecycle boundary, covering production, conditioning, and transportation. For the general public, this reassures them that the “clean” energy they use hasn't simply shifted its pollution elsewhere. For engineers, this ensures a holistic technical assessment; for the financial sector, it improves the project’s financing credibility, crucial for securing green financing through alignment with the Hong Kong Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance. Standardisation is also the ultimate antidote to “greenwashing”, ensuring capital flows towards truly impactful projects.

The consultation proposes a pragmatic two-tiered threshold system:

• Green Hydrogen: 3.384 kgCO₂eq/kgH₂
• Low-carbon Hydrogen: 4.86 kgCO₂eq/kgH₂

By excluding coal-based feedstock and offering a transitional “low-carbon” tier, the framework acknowledges our local geographic constraints while incentivising emerging technologies such as Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS). This flexibility is vital for Hong Kong to serve as a “super connector,” facilitating the export of low-carbon technologies from Chinese Mainland to global markets.

As HKIE members, our role now evolves from shaping the policy to leading its technical execution. Let us work together to engineer a resilient, carbon-neutral future for Hong Kong.

This article is contributed by Ir Jasper Chan with the coordination of the Environmental Division.