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Undersecretary for the Environment Kitty Poon speaks at a Shenzhen conference to promote public-private sector exchanges on environmental technology
and initiatives
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As Hong Kong's deepening integration with the Pearl River Delta (PRD) embraces the environment, some are turning to California for inspiration.
"This region could be a green model for the whole of China, much as the state of California is for the United States," said Dr Kitty Poon, Hong Kong's Undersecretary for the Environment. Dr Poon, referring to California's reputation as an environmental trendsetter, said "the PRD has the capacity, the talent and the motivation" to reinvent itself, from the world's factory to a model green metropolis."
The Hong Kong Government, in collaboration with PRD authorities, has put aside HK$93 million to help thousands of Hong Kong-owned factories on the Chinese mainland. They have also worked with the factories to improve their manufacturing processes and make them environmentally sustainable.
The Right Time
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Hong Kong and the Pearl
River Delta region are working together towards a green and quality living area
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"Today we feel it is a good time to go a step further," Dr Poon said, noting that Central Government reforms have allowed the delta regions to "arrive at a great point where we can think about collaborating to achieve benefits for the entire region.
"The areas we want to work on include air quality, but the government alone cannot achieve clean air by itself," Dr Poon said. "What we can do is formulate a new air-quality standard for the PRD and corresponding targets for emissions reduction. Legislation on the mainland has been tightened in the past few years, and businesses have to meet higher emissions regulations. Some of them have been crying foul," she said. "But one way or another, they have to reinvest in themselves to survive. There will always be difficulties, but if they don't want to invest in themselves for the
future, then we can't help them."
Blue Skies
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Green Business |
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The plan for a green PRD creates substantial opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). "The vision of a green Pearl River Delta quality living area is underpinned by a series of measures to open market access for Hong Kong companies," said Hong Kong Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau at a speech last month in Washington. "And the open-market environment in Hong Kong will, in turn, facilitate participation by services providers from elsewhere."
Under Hong Kong's Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) with the mainland, Hong Kong SMEs that deal with sewage, refuse disposal, cleaning of exhaust gases, noise abatement, sanitation, nature and landscape protection and other environmental protection services, will have opportunities to increase their work on the mainland. In addition, officials said, the mainland's Rmb4 trillion economic stimulus package should help SMEs get business, since Rmb23 billion of it has been set aside for environmental protection.
The SME picture, however, is not completely rosy, according to a 2007 study by the University of Hong Kong Engineering Alumni Association. The study found that many SMEs fail to recognise the opportunities, despite representing 98 per cent of total business units in Hong Kong and employing 1.81 million people.
The study noted a general lack of understanding by Hong Kong SMEs as to what exactly "sustainable development" means. It also found that most SMEs were unaware that sustainable development, or green practices, could raise their competitiveness.
The study recommended that the government offer SMEs tax relief to promote green building and the use of sustainable development ideas in procurement policies (such as a break for using eco-friendly paint). It also recommended that the government offer free training for SMEs on environmental management, focus on the "3Rs" – reduce, reuse and recycle – and allow SMEs to promote joint sourcing, which would give them greater bargaining power.
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The PRD will not look the same in 50 years, if current plans become reality, according to Dr Poon. "We envision the region as a huge metropolis. For that to work, however, we need to collaborate on R&D for clean and renewable energy such as solar and nuclear power – all the alternative energy sources. In Hong Kong, we also have to increase the use of natural gas and develop clean energy sources within Guangdong, to ensure economies of scale for the supply and consumption of clean power.
In 50 years, Dr Poon foresees the region "will have blue skies, clean water and happy smiles." She also believes that electricity or some other innovative technology will power cars in half a century, "because the area is a frontier for collaboration and cooperation on green technologies and products."
Water Quality
Hong Kong and its neighbouring PRD cities have long been weighing the benefits of a green metropolis. The Hong Kong-Guangdong Joint Working Group on Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection was formed in 2000.
The group encourages cooperation on a range of environmental and sustainability issues under the co-chairmanship of Hong Kong's secretary of the environment and the director of Guangdong's Environmental Protection Bureau.
While regional air pollution issues top its agenda, the group also deals with water pollution, the protection of the Dongjiang River's water quality, the promotion of energy efficiency and clean industry production. Under the pan-PRD cooperation framework, environmental protection authorities agree to strengthen cooperation in environmental protection among the nine provinces and the two SARs. The current focus is pollution control along the Pearl River.
National Scale
The National Development and Reform Commission outlined its own plans for the Pearl River Delta in a report last December, calling for the delta region to "build a high-quality living community... to encourage joint prevention and control of pollution and to deal with environmental pollution, build cross-border ecological reserves and protect water-collecting areas of reservoirs."
The plan also calls on Guangdong and Hong Kong to conduct joint research and development of clean energy and renewable resources, to cooperate on clean production and to construct profitable networks of energy supply and marketing.
In his 2008-2009 Policy Address, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang advocated new building energy codes and, for power companies, a new regulatory scheme to improve air quality, replacing industrial diesel with ultra-low sulfur diesel in all industrial and commercial processes. He also injected HK$1 billion into the Environment and Conservation Fund.
By 2010, Guangdong will increase its overall investment in environmental protection to three per cent of GDP in six major areas: ecological protection and construction, wastewater treatment, desulphurisation of power plants, solid-waste disposal and treatment, radioactive-waste disposal and emergency systems. It has earmarked Rmb133.9 billion for the related investment projects. Guangdong will also invest Rmb40 billion, through 2015, to build pollution-control facilities at industrial parks. Hong Kong and Shenzhen will provide funding for eight applied
R&D projects, one of which is energy-saving and environmental technology.
Related links
Environment Bureau
Pearl River Delta
