REVIEW OF AIR QUALITY OBJECTIVES AND DEVELOPMENT OF A LONG TERM AIR QUALITY STRATEGY FOR HONG KONG

摘要

In the Policy Address 2009 - 2010, the Government proposed to use the Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) of the World Health Organization (WHO) as the long-term goal, and adopted the WHO's interim targets to update Hong Kong's Air Quality Objectives (AQO) in stages. These proposed new AQO are stringent but pragmatic, and comparable to those adopted by other advanced countries such as the European Union and the US. Hence, a host of comprehensive emission reduction measures which Government would consider implementing for improving Hong Kong's air quality has been identified for achieving the proposed new AQO. Selection criteria have been established for shortlisting these measures. A set of conceptual measures has been identified and can be grouped into 4 main categories: emission capping and control, transport management, infrastructure development and planning, and energy efficiency measures. The shortlisted measures are further refined and grouped into three packages according to the potential implementation time frames: Phase Ⅰ, Phase Ⅱ and Phase Ⅲ according to their practicability, maturity of technologies and readiness of the affected sectors in accepting the proposed measures. These control strategies were analysed for the pollutants concentration reduction potential and then evaluated by cost benefit analysis for possible prioritisation. This paper presents the rationales adopted in proposing the new AQO and the selection criteria in shortlisting the control strategies.