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About Energy Saving Charter & 4T Charter Schemes

online sign up

past briefing section's ppts

The Paris Agreement call for global action to keep global average temperature increase to well below 2°C relative to pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a global red alert in its report released in August 2021. The world must take concerted actions to achieve deep decarbonisation without delay. As a member of the global village, Hong Kong must set ambitious deep decarbonisation targets for itself. To this end, the Government has launched Hong Kong, China's Climate Action Plan 2050 in October 2021 which sets new decarbonisation strategies, targets and actions and strive to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. To successfully combat climate change, the whole community must take proactive actions in climate change together. We encourage our community from various sectors, including the commercial and industrial sectors, professionals and the youth, as we embark on Hong Kong’s deep decarbonisation journey.

Energy Saving Charter

Promoting energy efficiency and energy saving is one of the most critical means for Hong Kong, China to continuously reduce carbon emissions. Since 2012, we have been launching the Energy Saving Charter to encourage business and community organizations to save energy.

For the Energy Saving Charter 2021, over 2,200 premises signed up to the Charter. This year, while appealing for the continuous support from shopping malls, office/ commercial/ industrial buildings, residential buildings/ housing estates, offices, shops/ restaurants/ supermarkets, non-governmental organizations/ community facilities, kindergartens/ primary schools/ secondary education institutions, hotels, hospitals for joining the Charter. We also continue to welcome other sectors that not mentioned from above to join the Charter. Please visit the participants pages for details.

We would appreciate your support in the following respects for Energy Saving Charter 2022 with the scope:-

  1. to maintain an average indoor temperature between 24-26°C during the summer months of June to September in 2022 (Please click here and refer to details in Item (1) under Energy Saving Tips);
  2. to switch off electrical appliances and systems when not in use (Please click here and refer to details in Item (2) under Energy Saving Tips) and procure energy efficient appliances (such as those with Grade 1 energy labels) and systems (Please click here and refer to details in Item (3) under Energy Saving Tips) from June 2022 to May 2023; and
  3. to engage staff/ students/ tenants to adopt the above energy saving practices together. (Please click here and refer to details in Item (4) under Energy Saving Tips)

Also, there are energy saving tips for office:
Energy Saving Tips for Office
(Please click here and refer to details in Item (5) under Energy Saving Tips)

In addition, there are carbon reduction measures by referring to relevant guides by Environmental Protection Department:
Guide to Low Carbon Offices
Guide to Low Carbon Schools
(Please click here and refer to details in Item (6) under Energy Saving Tips)

The "4T Charter"

As buildings account for some 90% of electricity consumption and over 60% of greenhouse gas emissions in Hong Kong, China, reducing energy consumption in buildings is one of the important measures to achieve the new carbon reduction target. The Government has established a partnership with major stakeholders in the built environment under the 4T framework, namely target, timeline, transparency and together, under which the 4T partners are encouraged to set their energy saving targets and timelines and to share their existing and planned energy saving measures.

We have already gathered the support of owners / managers of a number of commercial sector buildings and institutional buildings in Hong Kong, China, and would appreciate your support in the following respects for 4T Charter with the scope:-

  1. to set energy saving target with a timeline (Please click here and refer to details in Item (1) under 4T Tips);
  2. to ensure transparency on energy saving result and building energy data (Please click here and refer to details in Item (2) under 4T Tips); and
  3. to encourage inhabitants (including staff, students, occupants, tenants) to work together on the above energy saving target. (Please click here and refer to details in Item (3) under 4T Tips).

Optional additional pledge
In addition to energy saving, signatories of 4T charter scheme are also encouraged to set targets and timelines for the reduction of carbon emissions, such as installation of more renewable energy systems, adoption of green transport and waste reduction, etc., and share their measures and achievements.

Please return us the completed reply slip or online sign up (Guidelines) if your organisation would like to join the Charter. Participants are required to submit relevant information upon requested (ESC Information Collected Form , 4T Information Collected Form).

Keeping Records for Inspection

We wish to disseminate the above relevant messages via the promotion campaign. Also, the premises of participating organisations in Energy Saving Charter are encouraged to keep records on routine indoor air temperature measurements for future reference and review. We will carry out sample checking of indoor temperature for those premises participated in the Charter. Premises of participating organisations in Energy Saving Charter would be required to submit the energy saving results upon requested by EMSD. (see ESC Information Collected Form). Besides, we shall inspect those shopping malls participated in the Charter regularly. If the measured indoor temperature is relatively low, we shall encourage those shopping malls to take improvement action.

Whereas, premises of participating organisations in 4T Charter would be required to submit their energy saving targets with timelines and records track energy saving results upon requested by EMSD. (see 4T Information Collected Form)

If the premises was found failed to fulfill the above requirements, follow-up actions would be arranged with the participant for necessary improvements. We reserve the right to remove the concerned premises from the list of participants if the situation remains unchanged.

Why the Charter

Benefits of Joining the Charters