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SETW talks about air pollution index
Following is a transcript of the stand-up session by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, after attending the opening ceremony of a seminar on urban environment and pollution today (November 3):
Reporter: Dr Liao, given the recent high API, how would you consider to speed up the trade emissions scheme with the Guangdong Province .......?
Dr Liao: Well, the emissions trading is one of the methods that we are trying to work out with the Guangdong Provincial Government to reduce the emission levels of their power plants but we are still working it out because emission quota is something very difficult to negotiate and it also have to come in with the overall energy supply and development for Guangdong. So, this is being discussed.
Reporter: Is there any possibility to speed up the scheme ?
Dr Liao: Well, I was trying to explain even if we had the scheme today, they will still need to have time for the installation of desulphurisation and the installation of electrostatic precipitator, all these engineering devices. They are already working on it without the emissions trading scheme but it takes time for the installation to take place.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
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Following is the extract (English only)on the part of improving air quality of Dr Liao’s speech delivered at the “POLMET 2003 (Pollution in the Metropolitan and Urban Environment):-
“Since 1999, the Government has been implementing a comprehensive programme to reduce the emissions of respirable suspended particulates (RSP) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), the two main pollutants in Hong Kong’s air at the street level, from motor vehicles. The programme includes replacing our 18000 diesel taxis with ones that are run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), encouraging the replacement of the existing diesel light buses with ones that are run on LPG or electricity, introducing ultra-low sulphur motor diesel (ULSD), and retrofitting older diesel vehicles with emission reduction devices. Great progress has been made: nearly 99% of our taxis have been replaced by LPG ones; over 80% of the newly registered light buses are LPG models; ULSD has become the statutory standard; the programme to retrofit older light diesel vehicles with emission reduction devices has been completed and the installation has become a statutory requirement; and the other programme to retrofit diesel heavy vehicles with emission reduction devices is progressing well.
The cuts in emissions have brought improvements to roadside air quality. Compared with 1999, the concentrations of RSP and NOx at the street level had dropped by 19% and 16% respectively in 2002 while the number of incidents where the Air Pollution Index exceeded the short-term Air Quality Objectives had fallen by 40%. We expect to see a continuous improvement in roadside air quality in the coming few years as we continue to bring the measures to fruition.
The Hong Kong SAR Government and the Guangdong Provincial Government have reached an agreement to reduce, on a best endeavour basis, by 2010 the emissions of the four major pollutants in the air, viz. sulphur dioxide (SO2), NOx, RSP and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 40%, 20%, 55% and 55% respectively, using 1997 as the base year.
The two Governments are working hard in drawing up a regional air quality management plan that will achieve the agreed emission reduction targets. The plan will include the introduction of new pollution control measures, compilation of emissions inventory and setting up of a regional air quality monitoring network in which officials from both side will take part.
One of the major pollutants in the region is the power plants. This is especially true for the Guangdong side where their economic growth rate is much higher than Hong Kong and their need for a stable and sufficient power supply for the economic growth. However the requirement by the Central Government to install de- sulphurisation equipment is still on its way along with the fact that whether there should be more power plants to be built in Guangdong or whether they should be importing electricity from the western region. These are policy issues that have great implication to the region and they are in the process of being confirmed.
In the process, emissions trading among power plants in the region is considered one of the measures to reduce pollutants, making use of the economic difference of HKSAR and the Mainland. We are examining with the Mainland authorities how to take this forward using a trading pilot scheme with a view to launching the scheme in three years’ time.
For PRC, there are seven locations in the country where emission trading has been introduced and at least 3 or 4 places have proven that this mechanism can work and has sped up the process of emission control.”
End/Monday, November 3, 2003
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