Chief Investigator:

Dr. FOK Lincoln

Project Year:

2019-2020

Description:

Although the world nations united to limit global warming to 2°C in the Paris Agreement, the existing emission target have not been able to catch up. The UNEP in 2018 estimated that global emission of carbon dioxide has to be reduced by a further 25% in 2030 in order to meet the 2°C objective. to achieve this goal, global decarbonisation strategies involving climate investments, policy instruments, technological innovations and behavioural changes will all be necessary. In Hong Kong, space cooling is responsible for one-fifth of the local greenhouse gas emission. The “No Freezing summer” campaign is one of the many strategies that the Hong Kong Government adopted to curb carbon emission related to space cooling (decarbonising cooling). This campaign has educated local citizens to adjust air-conditional thermostat to 25.5°C in summer months. The campaign had a history of a decade but it had never been systematically evaluated. The proposed study will adopt the Theory of Planned Behaviour framework to evaluate the effectiveness of the No Freezing Summer campaign. Behavioural barriers that have led to non-adoption of this decarbonising cooling behaviour will also be investigated. Results of the proposed study can contribute to public education policy evaluation and development. Firstly, effectiveness, with regard to the level of adoption of decarbonising cooling behaviour will be evaluated, along with the barriers preventing its adoption. And these can be used to inform future public education campaign associated with global warming.