APEC holds Workshop on Promoting Energy Efficient, Resilient and Green Data Centres in Hong Kong via video conferencing
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Delivering the opening remarks yesterday, the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, said Hong Kong is striving to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government published last year Hong Kong's Climate Action Plan 2050, which mapped out Hong Kong's decarbonisation strategies and targets, as well as the climate adaptation and resilience measures.
He pointed out that the energy demand of data centres, driven by digital technology advancement (such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, 5G and blockchain), will continue to grow, and that concerted efforts of the HKSAR Government and the industry in promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy are essential. He said that Hong Kong was honoured to host the APEC online workshop to support the establishment of energy efficient and resilient data centres.
More than 100 delegates and experts from six APEC member economies attended the workshop to exchange views on the best practices, challenges and the application of innovative technology in data centres. The workshop, proposed by Hong Kong, was one of the APEC-funded projects. It aimed to encourage member economies to improve the energy efficiency and resilience of data centres, and the utilisation of renewable energy in their operations in the APEC region, so as to accelerate APEC's move towards its goals of reducing energy intensity and adopting renewable energy.
The Assistant Director (Electricity and Energy Efficiency) of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department and deputy lead shepherd of APEC's Energy Working Group, Mr Barry Chu, delivered the closing remarks today. He thanked the speakers for their sharing in promoting energy efficiency, resilience and renewable energy adoption in data centres, which is conducive to sustaining competitiveness and growth in the long term.
Mr Chu said that the Energy Saving Plan for Hong Kong's Built Environment 2015~2025+ promulgated by the HKSAR Government in 2015 has set a target of reducing energy intensity by 40 per cent by 2025. So far, the energy intensity in Hong Kong has decreased by over 30 per cent. Hong Kong is one of the best performers in terms of reduction in energy intensity among APEC member economies. The HKSAR Government has further set aggressive energy saving targets in Hong Kong's Climate Action Plan 2050, published in 2021.
Hong Kong, with its robust telecommunications infrastructure, will continue to foster a quality and sustainable built environment, with a view to consolidating itself as a regional hub for data centres.
Ends/Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Issued at HKT 17:22
Issued at HKT 17:22
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