So, after 14 years of talk and negotiation, Hong Kong finally has a law regulating vehicles parked with engines running. It has been watered down so much by transport interest groups it will not have much impact on air pollution, the reason we have been having this discussion for so long. The philosophical say that it is better than nothing and while such a view masks the disappointment, it does not account for the value of the process in raising awareness of one of our most serious challenges. Now that it has been approved, the experience has to be the basis for a more proactive, broader-based, strategy.
What that should comprise is already well known. At the roadside level, it involves first getting highly-polluting diesel buses and trucks off our streets. Then, stricter fuel standards have to be adopted for all vehicles. Higher taxes on new cars, and electronic road pricing, would clear the air in our busiest areas and ease congestion.
That is easier said than done. The government has tended to favour voluntary measures over laws, preferring not to infuriate tax-paying employers. There is generally nothing wrong with this approach in an open market such as ours, but there is a need for legislation when recommendations and cajoling to change behaviour clearly are not working quickly enough. That has been the case with roadside air pollution.
Air pollution at the street level was 'very high' for a record one in four days last year. The rise has been in tandem with an increase in vehicle numbers, which jumped 9.6 per cent between 2004 and 2009. That is despite Hong Kong already having the world's highest traffic density, with 275 vehicles per kilometre, assuming all 568,000 are on the road at the same time. With buses and trucks accounting for the majority and fuel standards being markedly lower than those adopted by other developed societies, the impact of emissions on visibility is noticeable, and on health striking.
Progress has been made over the past decade, with an estimated 84,000 tonnes of the four major pollutants being removed in that time. But some pollutants are on the rise. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of poor air frightening off companies, talent and tourists. A survey in December found that one in four respondents would consider leaving because of pollution. Between 2007 and last year, it was related to 4,800 extra deaths, a University of Hong Kong study determined. Much of the risk is down to the small particulates emitted in the exhaust of diesel vehicles.
Legislation on idling engines was supposed to go a way towards tackling that. But successful lobbying from the transport sector has weakened it to the point that it is unlikely to make much difference. Exemptions abound - 20 in all - from cabs at taxi stands, to buses carrying passengers, to hot and rainy weather. Drivers will have a three-minute free pass every hour and the HK$320 fine is less than the penalty for littering and jay-walking. Enforcement will be very difficult - there are far too many clauses giving drivers an easy way out. Such an outcome for so much time and political capital is disappointing. By bowing to the demands of interest groups, a law that should have been a strong foundation for a roadside air pollution policy had been made weak. Despite that, there is value in Hong Kong finally having an idling engines law. It will be interesting to see how many offenders are caught and punished. The effectiveness of the law should be monitored and it should be reviewed if ineffective. But now it has been passed, more attention must be given to other ways of combating air pollution.