Environmental Performance Report 2007

 | Previous | Next | ÁcÅé | ²Åé | EPD Homepage | Contents |

| Foreword | Chapter 1 Scope of Report | Chapter 2 Vision and Strategy | Chapter 3 Organisation and Governance | Chapter 4 Stakeholder Engagement | Chapter 5 Sustainability at EPD ¡V Economic Impacts | Chapter 6 Sustainability at EPD ¡V Environmental Impacts | Chapter 6 - Part A Environmental Impacts of Policies and Programmes | Chapter 6 - Part B Environmental Impacts of Internal Operations | Chapter 7 Sustainability at EPD ¡V Social Impacts | Chapter 8 Targets - Progress review and setting for 2007 | Appendix I Environmental Policy | Appendix II EPD Offices and Facilities | Appendix III Environmental performance reports of government bureaux/departments and agencies | Verification Statement | Feedback Form |

Foreword

Photo - Ms Anissa WONG, JP
Photo - I hope you find this report to be informative of the many efforts we made in 2006 to improve Hong Kong's environment.

Two issues dominated the Environmental Protection Department's (EPD) work in 2006. Air pollution has long been a top priority and we launched the Action Blue Sky Campaign in summer 2006 to encourage greater public involvement in improving air quality. The polluter pays principle also figured highly as we sought to find affordable ways of implementing necessary waste management and water quality improvement projects.

The Action Blue Sky Campaign is aimed at appealing for public support to the Government's clean-air initiatives and encouraging the community to take actions at personal level to improve air quality. The Government is taking the lead on this front by implementing a series of energy saving measures within bureaux and departments. The electricity consumption of major government office buildings was reduced by 2.9 per cent in 2006. The campaign has successfully introduced other initiatives, such as a $3.2 billion grant to replace old commercial diesel vehicles with cleaner models and a 30 per cent reduction on the first registration tax for environment-friendly petrol private cars.

The public is being asked to go a step further on waste management and water quality improvement and accept the polluter pays principle for dealing with their pollution. Gradual increases in sewage charges were proposed in 2006 to help pay for the operating costs of Stage 2A of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme and other planned sewage treatment infrastructure. A trial scheme to explore the logistics of municipal solid waste charges was also begun. The goal here is to make people pay for services in proportion to the pollution they create. At the same time, on waste, we are providing more outlets for people to recover and recycle their waste, and in 2006 we recovered 45 per cent of municipal solid waste, three years ahead of our target.

The EPD also recognises it has a responsibility to contain its own impacts on the environment. Our electricity consumption was reduced by 1.7 per cent and we consumed five per cent less paper during the year. We are also committed to implementing the requirements of the Clean Air Charter to further reduce our emissions and energy consumption. An Energy and Emission Management Team will be formed in 2007 to collect more detailed data on our emissions and energy consumption and identify reduction measures. The progress will be reported in the next Environmental Performance Report (EPR).

In the meantime, I hope you find this report to be informative of the many efforts we made in 2006 to improve Hong Kong's environment. We welcome any feedback or suggestions on our performance and this EPR. Comments can be sent through the feedback form or by e-mail to epr@epd.gov.hk.

Ms Anissa WONG, JP

Permanent Secretary for the Environment /
Director of Environmental Protection