When it comes to international climate policy, Hong Kong is in the convenient position of being able to hide behind China’s developing country status and exemption from Kyoto Protocol cuts. Yet the most recent data (from a study by Norway-based scientists) suggests our carbon footprint could be as high as 29 tonnes per capita – more than the US or China and second only to Luxembourg.

One diamond is the rough, however, is a certain Lucien Gambarota from a company called Motorwave. Lucien moved here from France in 1987 and has been tinkering with renewable energy technology for decades. Experimenting with wave, solar and wind power around the territory, Motorwave has even invented electricity-generating exercise bikes. Their own factory is going carbon-free and they’re hoping to make some small islands energy sustainable. Recently, Gambarota has been working with construction companies on the Kai Tak redevelopment, the Hennessy Centre in Wan Chai and at HKU to integrate thousands of his wind turbines into their building plans.

Certainly, HK Electric and CLP Power need to ditch their reliance on coal more quickly. However, there’s more to the figures than our own fossil fuel-based economy. Though we enjoy few factories and low vehicle ownership, much of our colossal domestic footprint is down to imports. When the built-in carbon cost of Mainland goods and our high levels of consumption are considered, we see such huge per capita statistics. Some green energy companies are definitely making waves, but our elephant-sized carbon footprint will remain an elephant in the room until we see a campaign for austerity and challenge, rather than hide behind, the Motherland.

Tom Grundy, globalcitizen.co.uk