OPINION: Pearl River Delta: Pollution
The grey haze that shrouds Hong Kong bears testament to the deterioration of our air quality. And with autumn come the ideal conditions for the reaction of ozone and volatile organic compounds to produce photochemical smog – further highlighting the complexity of the problem.

Thomas Tang

The front-page story in the Sunday Morning Post [23 October 2005] mirrors a dramatic Time magazine cover of December last year. The Time article, while blaming Hong Kong, also pointed out that “as much as 80% of the city’s air pollution comes from across the border, where the factories and power plants operate with far fewer environmental restraints”. This was an oversimplification.

So, who is actually responsible? Many are quick to point the finger at the industries in the Pearl River Delta, which are spearheading the mainland’s economic explosion. Experts at a recent conference noted that the region’s industrial expansion was forcing power stations in Guangdong to burn fossil fuels relentlessly to keep up with demand. But the crux of the debate over producing clean power is less the amount of fuel being burned, and more its type, the technology used and its efficiency.

Energy-watchers say demand in the PRD exceeds the mains supply capacity by about 10,000 MW – or about the capacity of all of Hong Kong. But does industry’s hunger mean we can lay the blame for air pollution wholly at their doorsteps – even the 70,000 factories owned by Hong Kong interests? The answer is not as clear cut as the cynics would have.

First, factories do not use as much dirty fuel as is widely thought. There is a perception that when there is not enough mains power, factories crank up diesel generators. But this is an expensive proposition. By most accounts now, factories are co-ordinating with the power companies, and rescheduling their production times to take advantage of power generated during cheaper, off-peak hours.

Second, the forces driving China’s growth are global. Consumers in the global economy want cheaper goods from China: they get them and we get the by-products.

Third, the delta is choking in traffic jams – and fumes. And it is going to get worse, if the 31-percent year-on-year leap in car sales last month is any indication.

Hong Kong consumes as much as five times more energy per capita on average than the rest of the delta. Perhaps that is because fuel is too cheap.

Yet, typically, the discussion on energy here tends to be about lowering the tariff: we need to stop confusing the issues.

Renewable energy has taken seed in the rest of the world, but not yet here. We should also be paying heed to the pundits of strategies that reduce the demand for energy, which may wean us from our wasteful habits by discouraging over-consumption.

Let us hope that we can finally overcome the finger-pointing syndrome and put our own house in order. Only then, at long last, can we be confident of blue skies.

Thomas Tang, managing director of the Global Institute For Tomorrow, an independent social venture think tank, is an advisor to the Business Environment Council on air pollution issues.
www.globalinstitutefortomorrow.org/