Policy Statement & Submission

9 November 2007


Dr Edgar Cheng
Chairman
Council for Sustainable Development
Mezzanine Floor, Murray Building,
Garden Road, Central
Hong Kong


Dear Edgar,

Clean Air - Clear Choices

I write to congratulate the Council on the success of the Public Engagement Exercise on Better Air Quality; as I understand, already over 40,000 responses have been received from the community on the IR document, the best in any government consultation. The Chamber is honoured to be a collaborator organization to the public engagement, and we are pleased to have helped contribute through a series of forums including two site visits.

The Chamber has been a long-time advocate of clean air, not least through our Project CLEAN AIR, to encourage energy conservation and emission reduction within the community. We support relevant measures to tackle air pollution not only across the border, but also here in Hong Kong, the place where we reside.

In respond to three specific themes of the engagement exercise, we would like to express our views as follows.

Air pollution alerts
- We support an alert system for high pollution days. This will facilitate more active response when the Air Pollution Index is high, as stated in Commitment No. 5 of the Clean Air Charter: "Identify and encourage business-relevant measures to be taken on days when air pollution is high."
- We do not have a specific view on the format of the alert system, as long as it is timely and highly visible. In addition, the alert system should be complemented with a more effective system of disseminating air pollution index real-time, for example in electronic billboards at roadsides to give citizens more information about the current air quality situation.
- During high pollution alert days, there are many kinds of action which different sectors may take as appropriate, for example, use of public transport, reducing air-conditioning, canceling physically strenuous events, etc. As the situations are flexible and wide-ranging, we do not think a mandatory approach is applicable, hence we support a voluntary approach with strong public advocacy. One effective way for immediate action is to have the government and public sector lead by example.

Electronic road pricing
- The Chamber supports electronic road pricing as a means to reduce road traffic in congested areas, and hence alleviate roadside air pollution. The system should not apply to public transport.
- For ERP to work, there must be a comprehensive transport system, with alternative routes and bypasses. The traffic impact on the alternative routes must be acceptable.
- To minimize the impact on business vehicle operators, ERP should be implemented flexibly, to allow loading and unloading during designated non-peak hours.

Energy efficiency
- We support the promotion of greater energy efficiency through public education and greater transparency of information, the latter through a more effective regime in energy efficiency labeling.
- Since energy efficient translates into savings, the market mechanism, rather than mandatory measures, should be the primary means for promoting energy efficient appliances.
- Government has a facilitating role in enhancing the capability of industry to contribute to energy efficiency, for example, providing more support in brand-promotion and development of energy-related industries and services.

We hope the above views are helpful in shaping the Council's recommendations to the Government to develop the strategy on improving air quality in Hong Kong.

With warm regards,

Yours sincerely,






Lily Chiang
Chairman