Hong Kong, Guangdong lower pollution reduction targets for 2020
Under eight-year plan, HK and Guangdong set separate reduction rates on emissions, which is a departure from ambitious goals set previously
Hong Kong and Guangdong have decided on reduction targets for air pollutants up to 2020 that are much less ambitious than goals set in the previous phase.
Under the new eight-year plan starting this year, authorities from each side will also work towards separate mid- and long-term reduction rates of emission.
That decision marked a departure from the 2002-2010 phase, in which both places shared common emission targets for four pollutants.
In that phase, Guangdong failed by 2010 to achieve a promised cut in volatile organic compounds and marginally attained the target for nitrogen oxides.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, had met all four targets, which also include sulphur dioxide and respirable suspended particulates.
"Obviously, there's not enough momentum for Guangdong officials to take emissions of volatile organic compounds very seriously," a mainland analyst said.
