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Press Release
EPD committed to improving air quality
With the support of the community, the Government is determined to achieve the emission targets agreed with Guangdong for 2010, through local emission reduction measures and co-operation with Guangdong.
A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said today (March 20) that the Chief Executive, in his Policy Address, had made it clear that Hong Kong, as Asia's world city, could not tolerate foul air.
"Air quality is a serious issue not only for Hong Kong but the whole Pearl River Delta (PRD), given the rapid growth in urbanisation and industrial activities and the associated air pollution in the region," he said.
"Whenever the weather is calm, air pollutants from Hong Kong and the PRD region are trapped close to the ground, resulting in high air pollution levels in Hong Kong and other cities in the region," he added while explaining the cause of the air pollution incident in the past couple of days.
To improve air quality, the Hong Kong and Guangdong governments have agreed, by the year 2010, to reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), respirable suspended particulates (RSP) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) respectively by 40%, 20%, 55% and 55% from 1997 emission levels.
"The department has already made good progress in cutting the emissions of NOx, RSP and VOC. For SO2, however, much of the effort has been impaired by the increase in emissions by the power plants. The current SO2 emission is 47% higher than the 1997 level," he added.
Electricity generation is the biggest source of air pollution in Hong Kong accounting for 92% of the SO2 and half of the NOx and RSP emissions.
The spokesman said the department had asked the power companies to accelerate the timing of emission reduction projects, increase the use of ultra-low sulphur coal and use natural gas for power generation as much as possible.
"At the same time, we will progressively tighten the emission caps on the power companies to ensure that the 2010 emission reduction targets are met. We also ask power companies to use more renewable energy for electricity generation and to implement demand side management measures to minimise electricity consumption," he said.
"For the new Scheme of Control, the Government has proposed to link the permitted rate of return on all fixed assets of the power companies to their achievement of the emission caps. This will provide the necessary economic incentive for power companies to reduce emissions," he added.
"In the years to come, we are pursuing additional measures to achieve the 2010 emission reduction targets. We are introducing Euro IV emission standards to newly registered vehicles, and a scheme to control volatile organic compounds emissions from various products," he said.
Noting that education and public participation were very important for the successful control of air pollution, the spokesman said the department would continue to appeal to drivers to exercise self-discipline by switching off idling engines and had instructed all government drivers to do so.
"Also, we have been actively educating the public on energy saving by raising the air-conditioned room temperate from 22.5 degrees Celsius to 25.5 degrees Celsius and the Government will cut electricity consumption of its office buildings by 1.5% in 2006," he said.
On the regional front, the department is co-operating with the Guangdong Government on a plan to meet the emission targets.
For the power generation industry in Guangdong, four new liquefied natural gas power plants are expected to be commissioned in phases which will substantially reduce the reliance on the polluting fuel oil and coal, and all major coal-fired power plants in Guangdong Province will be equipped with flue gas desulphurisation by end 2007. On motor vehicles, the Guangdong Provincial Government will strive to advance the implementation of National III motor vehicle emission standards (on a par with Euro III ones) in the PRD cities.
"Hong Kong and Guangdong will continue to strengthen technical exchanges, especially on continuous emissions monitoring of stationary pollution sources and commissioning studies on regional air pollution. A joint air quality monitoring station network has been set up which reports on the Regional Air Quality Index to the public on a daily basis," the spokesman said.
Ends/Monday, March 20, 2006
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