Legislation for the Management of Air Quality

The Air Pollution Control Ordinance (APCO) is the principal law for managing air quality. Regulations cover specific areas related to air pollution, such as power plant emissions, motor vehicle fuel and emissions, asbestos control, volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, construction dust and industrial emissions.

Pollution from motor vehicles is controlled through fuel and emission controls. The permitted sulphur content of motor diesel fuel has been progressively tightened from 0.2 per cent in April 1995 to 0.035 per cent from January 2001. Diesel with a sulphur content of 0.005 per cent became widely available in 2000, and was made mandatory for motor diesel in April 2002. For motor petrol fuel, the sale of leaded petrol was banned from April 1999. The benzene level in petrol was tightened from 5 per cent to not more than 1 per cent, effective from April 2000. The unleaded petrol specifications were tightened to Euro IV level in January 2005 such that its sulphur content was reduced from 0.015% to 0.005%. In December 2007, Euro V diesel, which has a sulphur content of 0.001% was introduced. Since then, all petrol filling stations in Hong Kong are exclusively offering this fuel. Euro V diesel is suitable for all existing diesel vehicles. As compared with Euro IV diesel, fuelling existing diesel vehicles with Euro V diesel can reduce their sulphur dioxide and particulates emissions by 80% and 5% respectively. We have tightened the specifications of motor vehicle diesel and unleaded petrol to Euro V standards in July 2010.

For motor vehicle emissions, all newly registered vehicles have to comply with stringent emission standards since 1995. They have been progressively tightened to Euro IV emission standard. The Euro IV emission standard  was fully implemented starting from January 2007. In 2000, the Government offered incentives to encourage the early replacement of diesel taxis by LPG vehicles. In addition, newly registered taxis are required to use LPG or petrol starting from August 2001. In 2002, the Government offered another incentive scheme to encourage diesel public light buses to switch to LPG or electric light buses. Starting from December 2003, diesel vehicles not more than 4 tonnes first registered before 1 April 1995 are required to be installed with approved emission reduction devices for licence renewal. From 1 April 2007, the requirement is extended to all pre-Euro diesel vehicles.

To reduce the air pollution and environmental nuisances generated by idling engines, we enacted the Motor Vehicle Idling (Fixed Penalty) Ordinance in 2011. The Ordinance came into operation on 15 December 2011. Under the Ordinance, a driver is prohibited from operating the engine of a stationary vehicle for more than 3 minutes in aggregate in any 60-minute period.

In terms of global obligations, the Ozone Layer Protection Ordinance is regularly reviewed to ensure its effectiveness in implementing the amendments to the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer. In October and December of 2009, we amended the Schedule to the Ozone Layer Protection Ordinance and the Ozone Layer Protection (Products Containing Scheduled Substances) (Import Banning) Regulation, respectively, in order to meet the requirements of the Beijing Amendment under the Montreal Protocol and of the agreement reached in the Meeting of Parties to Montreal Protocol to accelerate the phase out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

Electricity generation remains the biggest source of air pollution in Hong Kong. It accounts for 92% of SO2, 46% of NOx and 31% of RSP emitted locally in 2009. Under the APCO, power plants are subject to licensing control, under which they are required to use the Best Practicable Means to prevent the emissions from causing air pollution. To minimise the emissions, new generation units proposed from 1997 should be powered by natural gas. Starting from August 2005, emission caps are imposed in the renewed licences of power plants, requiring them to progressively reduce the emission to meet reduction targets for 2010.

To ensure a smooth, timely and transparent implementation of the emission caps for the power sector, the APCO was amended in July 2008 to provide for the stipulation of emission caps for power plants for 2010 and beyond by technical memorandum (TM) and the facilitation of the use of emissions trading as an alternatives means for achieving the emission caps.  The first TM promulgated in December 2008 stipulates the total quantities of emission allowances for the three specified pollutants to the power plants for 2010 and beyond and the allocation methodology amongst the power plants. In 2010, we reviewed the operation of the TM and considered that two power companies could further reduce their emissions by maximizing the use of their existing gas-fired generation units and prioritizing the use of coal-fired generation units equipped with emission reduction device. Accordingly, we have promulgated the second TM in December 2010 to further tighten the emission caps of power companies starting 2015. As compared to the first TM, the new emission caps will be further tightened by 34% - 50%.

VOCs play a significant role in the formation of ozone and fine particulates in the atmosphere, which causes smog and reduces visibility. To reduce VOC emissions, the Air Pollution Control (Volatile Organic Compounds) Regulation, effective from April 2007 in phases, imposes maximum limits on the VOC content of selected products, and requires emission reduction devices to be installed on lithographic heatset web printing machines.

Development of New Air Legislation

Good progress was made in the development of new legislation in 2010 (See summary table).

To strengthen vehicle owners' confidence in the use of biodiesel as motor vehicle fuel, we have amended the Air Pollution Control (Motor Vehicle Fuel) Regulation to introduce regulatory control on motor vehicle biodiesel. The Amendment Regulation came into operation on 1 July 2010.