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Lawmakers Hit Out At Air-quality Targets

Mar 20th, 2009
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Joyce Ng, SCMP – Mar 20, 2009

Lawmakers criticised the government yesterday for setting its targets for meeting World Health Organisation air quality guidelines so low, and for lacking a timetable for implementing them.

Their comments came at a meeting of the Legislative Council environmental affairs panel to discuss a report on the air quality objectives review, released last week.

Democrat Lee Wing-tat said many measures suggested in the review had been discussed for years, such as the electronic road-pricing system and low-emission zones.

“Has the government really decided to implement these measures? Otherwise, improving air quality will only remain empty talk,” he said.

Mr Lee also criticised the administration for choosing the lowest interim targets, and for dragging out the process.

Another Democrat, Kam Nai-wai, said the government justified the adoption of the least stringent standards by scare tactics, such as saying that electricity charges would rise by 20 per cent if half of the city’s power was generated by using natural gas.

He quoted a petition by Friends of the Earth that said all the measures would bring a health benefit worth HK$61.4 billion, which outweighed their cost of HK$28.5 billion.

Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau Tang-wah said pollutants such as carbon monoxide and lead would be controlled by the more stringent sets of standards.

Mr Yau and the consultant that conducted the review, Ove Arup, said it was unable to give a timetable for implementation. Ove Arup director Alan Kwok said: “The measures suggested for phase one are related to businesses and the community. We have to ask the public whether they accept the measures, and we need businesses to give us a timetable.”

The review suggested Hong Kong should adopt the least stringent of the WHO’s three sets of guidelines for sulfur dioxide and ozone, but relatively tougher limits for respirable suspended particles.

Nineteen first-phase measures, including increasing the use of natural gas, were identified as helping to meet the new objectives.

The consultant will complete a draft report in June after gathering views at a public forum today.

HK Told To Aim Low On Clean-air Targets Officials Advise Adopting WHO’s Guidelines

Mar 14th, 2009
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Cheung Chi-fai, SCMP – Updated on Mar 14, 2009

Hong Kong has been advised to adopt the minimum targets of World Health Organisation air quality guidelines, officials said yesterday.

They were unveiling the outcome of the air quality objectives review conducted by its consultant since June 2007. The review aimed to update the standards unchanged since 1987, with reference to the WHO guidelines issued in 2006.

Compliance with the WHO guidelines could cut hospital admissions caused by air pollution and increase the average Hongkonger’s lifespan by around nine hours, they said.

But the officials failed to offer either a timetable for meeting the targets or a road map for going beyond that, saying issues about the pace and willingness to pay for clean air measures would be left to the public to decide in a consultation later this year.

According to the review findings, Hong Kong should adopt the least stringent of the WHO’s three sets of guidelines for sulfur dioxide and ozone but relatively tougher limits for respirable suspended particles.

The consultant also proposed introducing a limit for fine particles known as PM2.5, which were believed to be more detrimental to health than heavier particles.

A total of 19 first-phase measures, including increasing the use of natural gas, were identified as helping to meet the new objectives. There were another 17 measures for longer-term targets.

Among these early measures, the most cost-effective was bus route-rationalisation. However, the early retirement of old diesel vehicles delivered most benefits.

The officials estimated that electricity charges would rise by 20 per cent if half of the city’s power was generated using natural gas. They also estimated that bus fares would increase by 15 per cent if all old buses were phased out.

However, a green group described the estimates as “scare tactics”, saying it was being used by the government to justify adoption of the least stringent of the WHO’s three sets of standards.

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“The only purpose of these figures is to scare the public. But it has failed to take into account the health cost of pollution,” said Edward Chan Yue-fai, campaigner for Greenpeace.

Full compliance with the new objectives could save 4,000 hospital admissions a year. The estimated minimum cost of implementing the measures was around HK$28.5 billion.

A senior environment official yesterday declined to give an estimated time frame for meeting the objectives. The official said the pace, priority and price of the measures would be clearer after collecting views from a public forum on the review next Friday, and they would become the core questions in the final public consultation to be launched in the summer.

“The targets are ambitious and there is a lot of work to achieve them. But we will definitely speed them up,” the official said.

The official also said that no country had adopted the most stringent targets and it was believed a “progressive” approach towards meeting the long-term goals was more preferable.

The officials also warned that power plants might be unable to renew their licences while new infrastructure projects would not be able to go ahead if some unachievable targets became the criteria for environmental impact assessment.

They said “more radical measures” were required in both Hong Kong and Guangdong if the targets were to go beyond the proposed air quality objectives.

Air Quality Panel Split On WHO Standards

Mar 13th, 2009
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Cheung Chi-fai, SCMP – Updated on Mar 13, 2009

A third of the experts overseeing a government review of air quality objectives believe the standards it is proposing to adopt will not safeguard public health.

Campaign group Friends of the Earth polled 15 members of the panel of advisers ahead of a meeting today, at which consultants will present the review’s initial findings.

Hong Kong’s air quality objectives have not changed since 1987.

The World Health Organisation has proposed three new sets of standards. Of these, Hong Kong is proposing to adopt, as an interim step, the least stringent set.

Critics say these are aimed at developing countries, not wealthy places such as Hong Kong.

Clean-air advocates expect the consultants to stick largely to the government’s plan today.

Asked if they agreed the minimum WHO standards were insufficient to fully protect public health, five of the advisers said that was so. Three are professors of medicine.

The rest of the panel members would not reply or offered no clear response. Among these are businessmen and representatives of the transport and logistics sectors.

Wan Chi-tin, a senior executive from Hongkong Electric, told the green group that he supported practical steps to improve air quality in the next five to seven years but would not say whether he considered the standards adequate.

Ng Hoi-san, a taxi company operator and a panel member, said: “We are not prepared to pay all the costs for a very tight standard that stands a low chance of being accomplished.”

Hahn Chu Hon-keung, environmental affairs manager of Friends of the Earth, feared some panel members would put the interests of their own sector ahead of the public’s.

HK Academic Spreading The Word On Air Pollution

Feb 21st, 2009
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SCMP – Updated on Feb 21, 2009

A Hong Kong University of Science and Technology professor has been appointed editor-in-chief of a leading academic journal on air pollution. Professor Chak Chan, associate head of chemical and bio-molecular engineering, is the first Asian to be given the post at Atmospheric Environment.

Greener Paths

Feb 19th, 2009
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SCMP – Updated on Feb 19, 2009

It is fashionable, the world over, to talk about government budget-stimulus measures and job-creation packages. There is also a trend promoting the transformation to a “green” and “low carbon” economy, as well as creating “green” jobs. What might work in Hong Kong? A green economic approach needs to be defined for policymaking purposes. Now is the right time to shape a new kind of prosperity, based on quality of life rather than materialism. If the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003 and the current financial crisis have taught us anything, it is to treasure how we live rather than to define ourselves by what we buy. Good health and well-being have become much more important to Hong Kong people, and they will only become more important. The green agenda reminds us that our good health depends on ecological health. Therefore, protecting the environment and reversing climate change are vital. A degraded environment will definitely compromise our health.

Thus, a green economy is one based on creating prosperity and jobs while stabilising the climate, protecting the environment, reversing its degradation and promoting people’s health. This new economic vision works within ecological boundaries of resource renewal and waste absorption, while people’s health is also a key focus. This means we must pay more attention to what the planet is telling us about ecological tipping points.

Mainland China has several strategies, which are already national policies, that Hong Kong can adopt while making the transition to a green economy.

First, Hong Kong must strive to be more resource efficient, which means conserving all raw materials, including water. When we use raw materials, we must do so as efficiently as modern technology and good management allow us. For example, we must become much more energy efficient in everything, from power generation to transport, manufacturing, property development and consumer choices.

Second, we should aim to achieve the greatest number of benefits across the board. For example, as policymakers seek ways to improve energy efficiency, they could also address the impact of air pollution and climate change. Third, we must reduce waste massively, by redesigning products, improving their durability, and promoting reuse and recycling. National policymakers call this the “circular economy”.

Such concepts aim to achieve the greatest climate, ecological and health benefits through saving resources, which can also result in financial gains. In other words, use less, spend less, pollute less. To get there, the government has numerous tools at its disposal. A good start is better standards. Tightening the city’s air-quality standards, for example, would promote technical innovation and new management approaches, while improving air quality and public health. By reforming energy and building codes, Hong Kong will get a new generation of much better buildings in return.

Another powerful tool is for the government to use its procurement and public works as levers for a green revolution. Public-sector spending, coupled with wide consumer-product labelling and public-information campaigns, can play a very important role in ramping up economies of scale and therefore achieving cost competitiveness.

Public works offer a large range of green projects and jobs. There are many opportunities for green “intelligent” government buildings and public housing, to propel the economy out of its current inefficient, “business-as-usual”, mode.

More green jobs could be created on the design side of development. Thoughtfully designed buildings and districts require more services like architecture, urban planning, landscaping, electrical and mechanical services, and indoor air-and water-quality control. Many buildings will need to be retrofitted to make them more energy efficient, for
example.

Christine Loh Kung-wai is chief executive of the think-tank Civic Exchange. cloh@civic-exchange.org

Green Initiatives Urged To Keep Prices Down And Create Jobs

Feb 16th, 2009
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Albert Wong and Tiffany Lam, SCMP – Updated on Feb 16, 2009

The Civic Party and Green Sense have called on the government to use any surplus on green initiatives that can keep prices down and create jobs. The party said HK$6 billion should be set aside to subsidise buses to convert to cleaner engines.

The proposal is part of the party’s “green new deal” – regular proposals to create a greener city while offering more business opportunities.

It referred to studies showing air pollution costs the city HK$1.5 billion a year in direct health costs, and HK$21 billion in lost productivity. The HK$6 billion would go towards either fixing after-treatment devices onto current buses by the end of this year, or replacing buses at least 14 years old with ones that run on the latest green engines by 2010. There have been a range of forecasts on the government’s fiscal situation, with predictions ranging from a small surplus to a small deficit.

Conservancy group Green Sense issued several talking points, urging the government to use HK$11 billion to create a “greener economy”.

It proposed the government shell out HK$4 billion to develop renewable energy, creating 7,000 jobs for architects and engineers; HK$3 billion should be allotted to buttress the city’s recycling facilities; and HK$2 billion could be used to promote green roofs to reduce the heat-island effect.

Green Sense also said HK$1.5 billion should be used to improve the efficiency of air conditioners, with the rest spent on policies such as promoting eco-tourism and developing a local market for organic foods. It estimated the package should generate 17,200 jobs.

Green-lung Vision Strikes Terror In Officials’ Hearts

Feb 13th, 2009
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Stephen Vines, SCMP – Updated on Feb 13, 2009

Very occasionally someone comes up with a brilliant idea for improving Hong Kong and, almost always, it strikes terror in the hearts of the bureaucrats who run this place. The architect Rocco Yim Sen-kee has had an idea of this kind. It involves creating a magnificent green lung in the middle of Hong Kong Island, running from the Zoological and Botanical Gardens in Central to Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. This green corridor would be achieved by linking existing parks with a network of boulevards surrounded by trees and other vegetation stretching from above Central to the harbourfront and creating a zone of calm in the midst of bustle and pollution.

The ingenuity of the plan lies in the way it links what exists with what could be built with relatively little effort. But an enormous amount of determination and vision for it involves cutting (very modestly) into the fortress which Government House has become and possibly infringing on the new government palace, or headquarters as it is formally known – which, as it happens, Mr Yim has designed.

You can almost sense the nervous twitching of the bureaucrats as they contemplate an idea that involves such revolutionary thinking. Indeed, it would not be surprising if those on the front line of obstructing new ideas were already reaching for a familiar set of adjectives to put down the plan. In bureaucrat-speak, these would include assertions that the plan is far too idealistic (a very bad word in government circles), that Mr Yim is well intentioned but naive (a catch-all description of anything that requires imagination), and, of course, there is always the trump card of declaring the scheme impractical because it involves a lot of work.

By coincidence, on the day Mr Yim revealed his plan, an alliance of non-governmental organisations launched an appeal to the Town Planning Board to impose a height restriction on the latest official plan for destroying the historic Central Police Station complex which is now in the hands of that well-known conservation body, the Jockey Club.

It’s the same old story – the government is full of ideas for destroying Hong Kong’s heritage and ominously challenged when it comes to building anything new that is less than ghastly. Anyone doubting bureaucrats’ love of the ugly and absurd need only glance at the Central Library in Causeway Bay.

Meanwhile, a growing number of citizens have decided enough is enough; the destruction of Hong Kong’s heritage in the name of progress has gone too far, and they are arguing that the government should no longer try measuring progress by the amount of concrete poured but should look at ways of improving the environment on a human scale.

Mr Yim’s plan provides an ingenious way of better utilising the precious few green spaces in the middle of the city, even though it should be noted that there are probably more concrete than green areas in both the Victoria and Hong Kong parks. This plan would not create anything resembling a natural green habitat but it would cleverly carve something special out of the scarce green areas.

Why, then, is it close to certain that the bureaucrats (and their good friends in the property development
community) will oppose a scheme of this kind? It is not that the bureaucrats are necessarily full of bad intentions or that they are simply too lazy to work on a scheme that requires more effort. Such an assertion is unfair, particularly to some of those in the bureaucracy who are genuinely trying to create a better environment.

However, institutionally, the bureaucracy is inclined to avoid plans for transforming the existing infrastructure. Instead, bureaucrats love grand plans that involve knocking things down and building something grand anew. They see such schemes as their legacy projects and even dare to hope that one will eventually bear their name. If anyone deserves recognition for a great idea, it is Mr Yim but, alas, he is not a bureaucrat.

Stephen Vines is a Hong Kong-based journalist and entrepreneur

Air Standards To Reveal Priorities

Feb 13th, 2009
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SCMP – Updated on Feb 13, 2009

Soon, the government will replace the hopelessly outdated air pollution index (API). What it decides to replace it with will give us an insight into the government’s priorities. If the government is most concerned about the health of Hong Kong people it will adopt strict pollution guidelines.

These will allow for much less air pollution than the current standards and will drive down pollution when they are used to evaluate future developments, such as agreements with Guangzhou. The downside is that, in the short term, we will exceed these guidelines almost every day and so Hong Kong may get some bad press.

If the government is mostly concerned about public relations, it will adopt very lax guidelines. These may be only slightly stricter than the current API and will do nothing to fix the pollution problem or improve the health of Hong Kong people. By doing this, the government may successfully evade the bad press, but at a cost to our lungs.

Let us see what it does.

William Hayward, Wan Chai

Deception Claim Over Push For Cleaner Air

Feb 13th, 2009
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Timothy Chui, The Standard – Friday, February 13, 2009

Lawmakers and academics have accused the government of face-saving deception and disregarding the costs to public health through its air- quality reform. “With the prospect of HK$200 billion being spent on roads, a new highway going through Central, conversion to cleaner vehicles on a low-level voluntary basis and limited development of the subway system, the future for heart and lung health in Asia’s World City could be bleak,” Hong Kong University School of Public Health professor Anthony Hedley warned.

Accusing the administration of obscuring the true scope of health risks brought on by polluted air, he characterized relations between academics and the government as adversarial, and any progress would require an attitude change and action on their behalf.

Sitting on the Environmental Bureau’s air quality review group’s advisory panel, Chinese University professor Wong Tze-wai said the panel’s discussions were dominated by control strategies instead of addressing stricter air-quality guidelines.

He also said academics were kept in the dark over key policy plans, revealing both he and University of Science and Technology professor Alexis Lau Kai-hon – another panel member – were blind- sided by the chief executive’s October announcement that the World Health Organization’s lowest standard would be adapted for the city. With government claims that respirable suspended particulates exceed standards 5 percent of the time at roadside stations, compared to 80 percent to 90 percent if European Union standards were applied, Lau accused the city of seeking meager standards to deflect criticisms of inaction because of worsening air.

He said targets should be set to drive progress, and to properly communicate the risks of high air pollution.

“If we want the public to support difficult decisions in improving air quality, we have to explain to them how bad air affects them. We’ve heard from government repeatedly that clean air costs money, but the community is paying much, much more for filthy air,” Hedley said.

Warning that the rise of pollution since the 1980s may lead to a public health disaster, dwarfing outbreaks such as SARS, he called for the formation of an independent and intellectually honest authority akin to an environmental Independent Commission Against Corruption to handle the issue.

Lamenting the city’s health authorities’ failure to influence policy at yesterday’s Legislative Council subcommittee on improving air quality, he said reducing exposure to pollutants generated locally should be tackled without delay. According to studies, he said present strategies would not improve air quality in the foreseeable future.

Eco Expo Asia Receives Strong Support From The Hong Kong Environment Bureau

Feb 12th, 2009
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Eco Expo Asia 2009 – Published Feb. 12, 2009

Following its success in 2008, Eco Expo Asia, Hong Kong’s only trade fair that is dedicated to products, services and solutions for environmental protection returns with a new co-organiser, the Hong Kong Environment Bureau. Last year’s event attracted over 6,000 visitors from around the world, an increase of 20% as compared with 2007. The fourth edition of the fair will run from 28 – 31 October 2009 at AsiaWorld-Expo, with strong support from both local and international government associations emphasizing the need for a professional environmental protection business platform in the South China region.

With Hong Kong’s great advantage in being in close proximity to the Chinese mainland, a growing number of companies in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region are looking to Hong Kong as a platform to obtain service support including green technology and services. The two areas have reached a consensus on jointly transforming the PRD region into a green and quality living area under the principle of promoting environmental protection and sustainable development.

The Hong Kong Environment Bureau plans to work closely with PRD region government authorities to reduce emissions, develop wider use of renewable energies, enhance conservation and greening as well as increase publicity and education. They will also further promote environmental technology transfer by inviting the Chinese mainland government to form provincial and city pavilions at Eco Expo Asia 2009.

What’s more, the Chinese Central government has recently announced a US$500 billion (RMB 4 trillion) stimulus package to boost domestic consumption and growth amid the challenging global economic situation. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Minister in China has also pledged to raise another US$140 billion (RMB 1 trillion) over the next three years, dedicated solely to support renewable energy and pollution treatment within the region, making Chinese mainland one of the key markets for the environmental protection industry for both commercial and consumer perspectives.

2009 show to highlight four major sectors of the environmental protection industry

Eco Expo Asia will continue to be divided into four zones that will allow both exhibitors and visitors to better focus on what they are looking for. The highlights are:

  • Air Quality – features products and services like air pollution & gas emission control; air purification, filtration and deodorisation technology and equipment; desulphurisation and dust control technology and equipment; and gas, smoke & chemical monitoring and treatment equipment
  • Energy Efficiency & Energy – focuses on energy efficient applications; and energy saving devices and products
  • Waste & Recycling – showcases technology treatment, incineration & recycling systems of different kinds of waste and transport, collection & sorting of waste
  • Eco-friendly Product – exhibits biodegradable and recycled products and packaging; eco-friendly materials for construction and fitting; and green decorative materials

In addition, the Eco Asia Conference will once again run concurrently at the 2009 fair. The conference will also focus on these four major highlights, further augmenting the importance of these four categories. Organised by HKTDC and Messe Frankfurt, both events will be held from 28 – 31 October 2009, with 31 October opened to public.

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