Dear Sir/Madam
With all due respect I do not think it is reasonable to restart the counting of 10/21 days as the department should have answered the specific questions raised on 12 Feb in your previous email. I did not immediately request a review or bring the case to Ombudsman with the hope that the issue can be resolved with minimal extra work for the government staff.
Thanks for your help and understanding.

Yours sincerely
Simon Wang
P.S. I’m now using accessinfo.hk to handle my request of information. Please reply to this email to follow up. Your reply will be publicly available.

(Our Ref: EPD711/10/2021, E(21/0612) )

Dear Dr Wang,

Our department has received your follow-up email on 04.03.2021. Your application is now under processing. According to paragraph 1.16 of the Code on Access to Information, our department will inform you of the latest progress of the case separately on or before 24.03.2021. In the meantime, please contact us if you have any enquiry.

Regards,
Jason Lai
Environmental Protection Department

----------

EPD_Enquiry/EPD/HKSARG
05/03/2021 10:08

To
Simon H WANG <[email address]>
cc
[email address], [email address], SZEWCZYK Gabriela Malgorzata <[email address]>
Subject
Re: Application under the Code on Access to Information - Information about Low Carbon Lifestyle [Ref. EPD711/10/2021]Link
EDMS No.

Doc. Src.

Dear Dr Wang,

Thank you for your email dated 04.03.2021. Further to the auto-reply, we would like to inform you that we are processing your request and will come back to you later.

Regards,
Jason Lai
Environmental Protection Department

Simon H WANG <[email address]>
04/03/2021 18:11

To
[email address]
cc
SZEWCZYK Gabriela Malgorzata <[email address]>, [email address], [email address]
Subject
Re: Application under the Code on Access to Information - Information about Low Carbon Lifestyle [Ref. EPD711/10/2021]
EDMS No.

Doc. Src.

Dear Sir/Madam
In our request, we raised specific questions that have not been answered in your reply. This is rather disappointing given that we made clear that we "expect answers to each and every one of our questions separately rather than an answer without clearly indicating which questions were addressed". Could you kindly address the questions we asked as soon as possible? We'll request an official review (citing Clause 1.25) if necessary. Thank you.
Yours sincerely
Simon Wang

On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 6:03 PM <[email address]> wrote:
(Our Ref.: EPD711/10/2021, E(21/0612) )

Dear Sir/Madam,

Our department has received your application dated 12.02.2021 seeking the Information about low carbon lifestyle through the Code on Access to Information. Please find our consolidated reply below:

The Environment Bureau (ENB) and the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) have been disseminating the message through promotional leaflets, television and radio broadcasts, video clips, posters, the EPD website (i.e., https://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/how_h...) and the Climate Ready website (www.climateready.gov.hk). The ENB also launched the Low Carbon Living Calculator (LCLC) in 2018 to encourage members of the public to assess their individual carbon emissions.

In the past five financial years, the Environment and Conversation Fund (ECF) allocated a total of $25 million to support non-profit-making organisations to undertake public education activities and demonstration projects on climate change. As of December 2020, 23 projects have been approved under the specific theme on climate change of ECF’s Environmental Education and Community Action Projects Funding Scheme. These projects can raise the awareness of the community, particularly the students, about climate change through activities such as seminars, workshops, video production, environmental education dramas and training camps.

The "Energy Saving for All" website (www.energysaving.gov.hk) is a useful platform which facilitates public's access to information, such as guidelines and tips, databases, resources on technologies and strategies, in relation to energy efficiency and conservation, and has been serving as an effective means of promotion and public education. Details of events, competitions, charters and schemes are disseminated and timely updated to encourage active participation of the general public in energy saving.

Regards,
Jason Lai
Environmental Protection Department

----------
EPD_Enquiry/EPD/HKSARG
19/02/2021 17:38

To
[email address]
cc
Subject
Fw: E(21/0612) Plant-based meat education project
EDMS No.

Doc. Src.

(Our Ref: EPD711/10/2021, E(21/0612) )

Dear Sir/Madam,

Our department has received your application for access to information on 12.02.2021. Your application is now under processing. According to paragraph 1.16 of the Code on Access to Information, our department will inform you of the latest progress of the case separately on or before 04.03.2021. In the meantime, please contact us if you have any enquiry.

Regards,
Jason Lai
Environmental Protection Department

----------
EPD_Enquiry/EPD/HKSARG
16/02/2021 10:27

To
Gabriela Malgorzata SZEWCZYK <[email address]>
cc
Subject
Re: E(21/0612) Plant-based meat education projectLink
EDMS No.

Doc. Src.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your email dated 12.02.2021.

Further to the auto-reply, we would like to inform you that we are processing your request and may need a few more days to come back to you.

Regards,
Jason Lai
Environmental Protection Department

Gabriela Malgorzata SZEWCZYK <[email address]>
12/02/2021 03:07

To
[email address], [email address]
cc
[email address], [email address], Simon H WANG <[email address]>
Subject
E(21/0612) Plant-based meat education project
EDMS No.

Doc. Src.

Dear Sir or Madam,
We are students from Hong Kong Baptist University working on a project for a General Education course taught by Dr Simon Wang. We wish to learn more about the governmental position on plant-based meat offered from your department. Our main objective for this project is to assess how the government can promote plant-based meat and inform the public about the benefits of it.

In order to assess how the government can promote plant-based meat, we plan to research where the government already stands with regards to the issue and therefore, what they can do to promote it further. Here are some of the questions we hope this department/bureau could answer under the Code on Access to Information:
1.1 Have you already got guidance in place concerning the encouragement of low-carbon lifestyles?
On Environmental Protection Department website there are just two short points referring to consuming fruit and vegetable. I am referring to this webpage: https://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/how_h...
1.2 How was this message promoted? Is there any research made by the government about the level of consumption of plant-based products?
1.3 What information does the government have about the correlation between plant-based diet and benefits for the environment if more people choose such diet?
1.4 Are there any metrics to asses the impact of this webpage on Chinese society? How effective this website is in terms of promoting plant-based diet and it’s impact on environment?
2.1 Is encouraging a plant-based lifestyle by showing its environmental benefits something that you would consider?
2.2 Are the information shared on Environment Bureau’s website https://www.energysaving.gov.hk/en/home/... effective?
2.3 Is the society well-informed about the impact of meat-based diet on environment and the impact of plant-based diet on environment?
3.1 What information about the energy consumption of meat manufacturing does the government have?
3.2 Does the government analyze the correlation between plant-based diet and the difference in the impact made on the environment on the basis of carbon calculator? https://www.carboncalculator.gov.hk/en
3.3 What is the department’s position on view on plant-based meat products?
3.4Does the government have any plans regarding plant-based meat products’ availability to the public?
While we appreciate the government’s efforts to maintain transparency and accountability under the Code on Access to Information, we also notice considerable variation among different departments and bureaux in their responses to our Code on Access to Information applications. We would appreciate it if your department/bureau could maintain professional standards when answering our inquiries. Specifically, we expect answers to each and every one of our questions separately rather than an answer without clearly indicating which questions were addressed. In case of referencing to websites or documents, we need the specific paragraphs in the source texts that are relevant to our questions to be highlighted. If no information is available regarding some of our questions, please indicate that is the case explicitly so we can follow up properly. We will definitely ask our case to be reviewed by a more senior official in your department/bureau if our request is not properly handled. If it is believed that other department/bureau may possess information we request, please feel free to forward the request including our personal information.

Thanks.
Best regards,
Gabriela Szewczyk, Samantha Archer, Joseph Prye
Students from Hong Kong Baptist University

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