International Day of Clean Energy - A call for a cleaner, greener future

2025 marks the second year of celebrating the International Day of Clean Energy (26 January), a day dedicated to highlight the importance of empowering communities for a just and inclusive transition to clean, reliable energy. It is also a day to reaffirm our commitment to combating climate change—amidst record heatwaves and floods—by investing in renewable energy sources and accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels.

The world has made significant strides in renewables in recent years, driven by various climate and energy policies that have made renewables increasingly competitive. The UK for instance just had its cleanest electricity ever over the past 75 years, following its phase-out of coal and a doubling of renewables.[1]It now almost gets as much electricity from wind as it does from gas.

However, no country is moving as fast as China, which is leading the pack in building new solar and wind plants.[2]Remarkably, it has already achieved its target of producing 1,200GW of renewable energy by 2030, six years ahead of schedule.[3]

China accounts for almost two-thirds of utility-scale solar and wind power built worldwide (Image: Global Energy Monitor)

Where does Hong Kong fit in this story celebrating the global momentum of renewables? Unfortunately, the city is falling behind in making meaningful progress. The government’s climate plan primarily focuses on shifting from burning coal to natural gas, which less polluting, still emits carbon.

Local renewable energy development has largely been unable to take off. Remember the plans to diversify the city’s energy sources with offshore wind back in 2022?[4] That has since gone silent, likely shelved after concerns that low-income families would be disproportionately affected by the cost.

Lamma Winds is Hong Kong’s sole commercial-scale wind turbine (Image: CityU)

If Hong Kong can’t move fast enough on its own, perhaps it should think outside the box. Take Singapore’s "regional power grids” for example; through partnerships with its neighbours, the city is investing in renewable energy projects and importing clean electricity.[5]

Hong Kong could follow suit by leveraging its robust financial infrastructure to fund more economically-viable renewable energy projects with partners in the Greater Bay Area to import clean energy back to the city. This would enable Hong Kong to capitalize on China’s global leadership in renewable energy manufacturing while advancing the government’s ambitions to position the city as a regional green finance hub.

The International Day of Clean Energy is a wake-up call for all, including Hong Kong, to accelerate the pace of clean energy. If developing renewable energy is too challenging locally, we should explore collaboration with regional partners to support the global transition for a cleaner, greener future.