Record temperatures expose the gap between Xi’s green pledges and China’s polluting reality
The Numbers Are Undeniable
Hong Kong experienced the warmest winter on record between December 2025 and February 2026, the Hong Kong Observatory confirmed on Tuesday. The mean temperature for the three-month winter period reached 19.3 degrees Celsius — a full 2.0 degrees above the historical average calculated from records dating back to 1884. The mean maximum temperature of 21.9 degrees was the highest ever recorded for that period. Only five cold days — defined as days when the minimum temperature falls to 12 degrees Celsius or below — were recorded across the entire winter, the third lowest count on record. February alone saw mean temperatures running 3 degrees above the seasonal norm.
Part of a Longer Pattern
The record winter is not an isolated weather event. It is consistent with a trend that the Observatory has been tracking for years. In 2025, Hong Kong recorded its sixth hottest year since records began. Every single month of 2025 was warmer than the long-term average. The city also broke 20 separate weather and temperature records that year, including the highest absolute maximum temperature ever recorded in June — 35.6 degrees Celsius — the highest total daily rainfall for August, and the highest monthly mean temperature for October. Earth.Org, whose climate monitoring team covers Hong Kong closely, also reported last year that climate change is making the city exponentially drier, throwing the water cycle out of balance in ways that are likely to have serious long-term consequences for water security.
The China Contradiction
The warming that Hong Kong is experiencing is a global phenomenon driven by greenhouse gas emissions — and no country emits more greenhouse gases than China. Beijing has made high-profile pledges about achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 and peaking emissions before 2030. But the reality on the ground is more complicated. China continued building coal-fired power plants at scale through the 2020s while simultaneously expanding its renewables capacity. The result is an energy system that is both greener and dirtier than the CCP’s official narrative suggests. International environmental researchers at bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have consistently emphasised that net-zero pledges must be backed by verifiable, transparent reporting — exactly the kind of institutional honesty that authoritarian systems are structurally disinclined to provide.
What the Record Means for Hong Kong People
The warmest winter on record is not simply a statistical footnote. It has practical consequences. Warmer temperatures affect disease patterns, put stress on the city’s energy grid, and alter the ecological systems that millions of people depend on. The increased frequency of extreme rainfall events — which the Observatory has also documented — creates flooding risks and threatens urban infrastructure. For a city of 7 million people built on a mountainous peninsula, the stakes of climate change are not abstract. They are measured in flood damage, heat stress, and the quiet accumulation of disrupted seasons. Hong Kong’s people deserve both honest information about these risks and a government capable of responding to them with the transparency that only genuine accountability makes possible. That accountability — through a free press, an independent legislature, an engaged civil society — remains as essential as ever.
Tsz Yan
Environment & Public Policy Journalist, Apple Daily UK
Contact: tszyan@appledaily.uk
Tsz Yan is an environment and public policy journalist specializing in climate issues, urban planning, and environmental governance. She completed her journalism education at a top-tier UK journalism institution, where she trained in policy analysis, data-driven reporting, and environmental journalism ethics.
Her professional experience includes reporting for Apple Daily and other liberal Chinese publications on pollution control, infrastructure development, environmental regulation, and sustainability policy. Tsz Yan’s reporting integrates scientific data, regulatory documents, and interviews with experts and affected communities.
She has worked in newsroom settings where environmental reporting intersects with economic and political pressures, giving her practical experience in verification and balanced framing. Her stories are known for accurate interpretation of technical data and clear attribution.
Tsz Yan’s authority comes from consistent publication within reputable news organizations and adherence to transparency and correction protocols. At Apple Daily UK, she produces reliable environmental journalism grounded in evidence, professional training, and public-interest reporting.
