At last, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen is making the fight against air pollution a top priority. It's about time. Our air quality has been deteriorating for many years.
If it's going to act effectively, the government must give itself two policy tools. The first is a new set of air-quality objectives to protect the health of Hongkongers. The current objectives, set in 1987, can no longer do the job. They are simply too lax when compared to some other jurisdictions, such as California and the European Union.
The government has pledged to commission a study on revising the air-quality objectives. Civic Exchange asked Mr Tsang this week not only to estimate the cost of taking action - but also the total costs to Hong Kong of not acting quickly.
A recent study by experts and Civic Exchange showed poor air quality is costing Hong Kong $20 billion a year in health costs alone.
Other costs include Hong Kong's 'brand' value. We already know the city is having difficulty attracting and keeping talented people in some sectors, such as fund management and the higher end of the financial-services sector.
Officials say increasing numbers of foreign companies are setting up offices here. But they miss the fact that many fund-management jobs are highly mobile: those who do not need to be here are the first to relocate.
There is one more thing that Mr Tsang should do with the air-quality objectives: give them full statutory backing. Currently they are on a 'best-effort' basis. This means that if they are not met - the situation today - there are no real consequences. The government must accept that it has a heavy legal responsibility as the guardian of the public interest.
