The Governments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Guangdong Province have teamed up to tackle the regional air pollution problem. Here you can learn about their initiatives, including the establishment of an air quality monitoring network throughout the Pearl River Delta.

The Environmental Protection Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Guangdong Provincial Environmental Protection Monitoring Centre established the Pearl River Delta Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network in 2005. The Network includes 16 automatic air quality monitoring stations in the Delta. Ten stations are operated by the Environmental Protection Monitoring Centres of individual cities in Guangdong and another three are operated by the Guangdong Provincial Environmental Protection Monitoring Centre. The remaining three are located in Hong Kong and operated by the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department.

• More on cooperation with the Mainland through the Regional Air Quality Network
  http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/prob_solutions/strategies_apc.html#point_2

The Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network aims to:

• Provide accurate data to help the two Governments appraise the air quality and pollution problems in the Pearl River Delta and devise appropriate control measures.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of air pollution control through long-term monitoring.
• Provide the public with information on the air quality of various places in the region.

• More on the Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network (pdf file)
  http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/action_blue_sky/files/PRD2007_1-6e.pdf

The Regional Air Quality Index (RAQI) is calculated and reported daily. It is a measure of the aggregate level of four major regional air pollutants – sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and respirable suspended particulates. The index represents the complex nature of air pollution due to transportation and interaction over the extensive area in the Pearl River Delta. The higher the index value, the higher the overall level of pollution in the region.

• Current RAQI
  http://serve.gdepb.gov.cn/raqi2/RAQI_en.htm
• The RAQI explained
  http://serve.gdepb.gov.cn/raqi/capi_ENG_detail.html

To ensure that you can breathe cleaner air, and that your children will have a better quality of life, the Governments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Guangdong Province have been involved in a number of anti-pollution initiatives. As part of the agreement that established the Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network, the two governments have worked individually various measures, including:

Hong Kong

• Vehicle emission control, including encouragement to use pollution control devices on private vehicles and the conversion of mini-buses to liquefied petroleum gas instead of diesel fuel.
•  Power station emission control, including the use of air-scrubbing equipment and placing emission limits on individual stations.

Guangdong

• Vehicle emission control, including new vehicle emission standards, the continued banning of leaded petrol and a pilot project to recover vapour at oil depots and petrol stations.
• Power station emission control, including a ban on the construction of new coal-fired or oil-fired power plants, the use of liquefied natural gas for power generation and the fitting of air-scrubbers to all power plants.

In addition, the two governments have also devised a framework for the trading of emission credits among thermal power plants. This is a way of limiting the overall level of pollution with lower costs, and you will benefit through clearer skies.

• More on enhanced control measures of the HKSAR (pdf file)
  http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/news_events/press/files/RAQMP_dec18final.pdf
• More on enhanced control measures of the Guangdong Provincial Government (pdf file)
  http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/prob_solutions/files/annex.pdf