The government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) will fulfill its CO2-emission- reduction commitments made under the Kyoto Protocol as well as implement its environmental protection and energy-saving policies by promoting the use of alternative fuels, according to a press statement released on Monday by the SAR government.

Transportation is one of the main sources of emissions in Macao, as a result of which the SAR government has already set up rules for vehicle emissions and restricted the import of two-stroke engine vehicles, said Arnaldo Ernesto dos Santos, director of the Office for Development of the Energy Sector (GDSE), in the statement from the GDSE.

Regarding the generation of electricity, Santos said that the introduction of natural gas, which is considered to be a clean energy-source, as the fuel for electricity generation in Macao in 2008 has decreased the overall emissions from this activity by over 30 percent compared with 2007.

Meanwhile, the SAR government has taken the initiative to implement a government energy-saving plan. Sixty-three government departments has initially implemented this scheme as a test, with the aim of reducing energy consumption by five percent, according to the statement. As for energy saving in private companies, the application of energy-saving products will be promoted in the long term.

Santos also pointed out that awareness for environmental protection and energy-saving has increased among the international community and that much more attention is being paid to the research, development and usage of clean and new energy sources.

As a proof of Macao's effort to build a green city, the SAR government-sponsored 2009 Macao International Environmental Co- operation Forum and Exhibition (MIECF) will be held from April 2 to 4.

One of the events in this forum will be the "Energy-Saving, Emission-Reduction and Carbon Trading Symposium", in which eight experts from China, the European Union, Portugal, and the two Chinese SARs of Hong Kong and Macao, will give their speeches on the latest energy-saving and emission-reduction projects.

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2009)