Non-governmental organisations have made a bigger contribution towards improving Hong Kong's environment than the government, business decision-makers and opinion leaders believe.
Of 400 respondents interviewed in August for the SCMP/TNS poll, 42 per cent rated NGOs as the bodies which had made 'a great contribution' or 'some contribution' to improving the environment.
Only 13 per cent of respondents rated the government's efforts as highly in this category, while the business community received only 8 per cent.
Forty-six per cent ranked economic activities in Guangdong as the main cause of air pollution in Hong Kong, followed by local vehicle emissions at 29 per cent.
Twenty-seven per cent said the Guangdong provincial government was to blame for air pollution in the province, followed by 21 per cent for the central government. One in 10 believed the Hong Kong government should take responsibility for the problem.
While an environmental activist said the figures showed opinion leaders' disappointment in the Hong Kong government's lack of action in tackling pollution, a lawmaker said he believed the administration should not be made a scapegoat.
Friends of the Earth's environmental affairs manager Hahn Chu Hon-keung said the results showed the respondents believed the government had not taken correct and pragmatic steps to improve the environment.