VZCZCXRO5082
PP RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHHK #2533/01 2760812
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 030812Z OCT 07
FM AMCONSUL HONG KONG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3078
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1523
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 1199
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0889
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 3651
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 4702

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HONG KONG 002533 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ECON ENRG PREL HK
SUBJECT: CONSUL GENERAL AND CALIFORNIA AIR EXPERT URGE 
ACTION BY ENVIRONMENT SECRETARY YAU 
 
REF: HONG KONG 2428 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Consul General James Cunningham and former 
California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Dr. Alan 
Lloyd urged Hong Kong's new Secretary for the Environment 
Edward Yau to take action on Hong Kong's growing air 
pollution problems, in a meeting on September 20.  The Consul 
General offered USG assistance, and reminded Secretary Yau of 
Post's Pollution Prevention and Energy Efficiency (P2E2) 
program.  Dr. Lloyd shared relevant California case studies 
as possible solutions to Hong Kong's port-operation and 
mobile-source emission problems, noting that "deliberation is 
no substitute for action."  Secretary Yau, in turn, reviewed 
Hong Kong's actions to date, and identified several 
forthcoming initiatives: idling engine regulations, and 
corporate energy efficiency support.  The Hong Kong public is 
putting "tremendous pressure" on the government for action, 
and Chief Executive Tsang places great importance on this 
issue, but funding challenges exist, he emphasized.  Yau had 
just finished a series of consultations in Guangdong at 
provincial and local levels.  Yau and his staff plan to visit 
the U.S. in mid-January 2008, and are interested in meetings 
in California to discuss environmental issues and energy 
policy.  The CG encouraged him to also add Washington and New 
York City to the itinerary, as each has valuable regulatory 
and "best practice" information to share.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Comment: As the government's point person on 
pollution, Secretary Yau has inherited a politically 
difficult issue.  The last couple of years have seen a 
substantial up-tic in public and government recognition that 
Hong Kong's pollution problem is serious and growing.  The 
fact that much of Hong Kong's pollution is generated in 
mainland China puts the HKG in a difficult position, however. 
 Nevertheless, although the HKG "talks up" the problem, 
tangible evidence of regulatory or policy initiatives remains 
elusive.  The HKG has not revised its Air Quality Objectives 
since 1987, and the HKG's last notable success, the 
conversion of taxis to LPG, occurred in 2003.  Further, CE 
Donald Tsang and the HKG have done little to encourage or 
compel the Hong Kong owners of some 80,000 factories in the 
mainland to take the initiative to reduce pollution.  The 
Environment Bureau civil service staff have the technical 
expertise and will to develop policy, but these staff 
candidly convey the message that senior political leadership 
will be needed to execute their analysis and proposals.  End 
comment. 
 
¶3. (U) Background: On July 1, as part of the Hong Kong 
Government's reorganization of the cabinet structure, the 
former Bureau of Environment, Transport and Works was divided 
into an Environment Bureau and a restructured Transport and 
Housing Bureau.  Edward Yau was designated as the new 
Secretary for the Environment. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Mixed Message on Air Pollution 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) After a brief discussion regarding the day's 
"very-high" air pollution (recorded as one of the worst in 
2007), Secretary Yau opened the meeting by relating that he 
had just returned from three days in Guangzhou to confer with 
Guangdong provincial and municipal authorities about regional 
and cross-border cooperation on air pollution.  He also 
highlighted the "tremendous pressure" that the Hong Kong 
government feels regarding air pollution; it is not just the 
expatriate community that is concerned about the issue, but 
all of Hong Kong (Comment: A fact the HKG has long avoided. 
End comment.) 
 
¶5. (SBU) Dr. Lloyd expressed sympathy for these issues and 
concerns, and offered examples of methods and possible 
solutions for Hong Kong.  He emphasized stakeholder task 
force work that allows all interested parties to be involved 
in devising solutions.  He went on to outline the 
effectiveness of using public health information as a 
powerful lever to create public support for environmental 
programs.  Southern California's effective programs for 
reducing emissions from maritime ports and cross-border 
trucking from Mexico are worth reviewing for applicability in 
Hong Kong, opined Dr. Lloyd, and "deliberation is no 
substitute for action." 
 
 
HONG KONG 00002533  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) Secretary Yau responded that Hong Kong has "very 
high expectations", but is constrained by its location in the 
Pearl River Delta (PRD). Since the signing of the Memorandum 
of Understanding between the Hong Kong and Guangdong 
governments in 2002, cooperation and information sharing are 
improving, he claimed, and levels of the region's big four 
pollutants (sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particulate 
matter and ozone) are dropping, despite the extraordinary 
economic growth in the PRD.  Hong Kong's Environment Bureau 
is working with the mainland's State Development and Reform 
Commission and State Economic and Trade Commission to get 
approval for new projects.  He observed that the huge 
investment from Hong Kong in Southern China strengthens the 
HKG's position "in helping them to help us." 
 
¶7. (SBU) Secretary Yau ticked off several in-progress Hong 
Kong environmental successes, including: tightening emissions 
standards on Hong Kong's two power plants; transitioning 
taxis to LPG and buses to Euro IV fuel; and replacing 
commercial-use trucks with new and more efficient models. 
Looking forward, Yau detailed plans that will follow the 
Chief Executive's (CE) annual Policy Address in October on 
idling engine regulations and corporate energy efficiency 
support, in an attempt to impact both "the perception and 
reality" of the air pollution issue, intimating that the 
absence of idling engines regulation, while having a 
relatively small impact on the overall emissions inventory, 
is perceived by the public and green groups as an obvious 
example of government inaction.  He said, "the CE places 
great importance on this issue," and it is a top agenda item. 
 However, he went on to say that he had just come from a 
meeting with the CE where he complained about the lack of 
needed resources to fund the Environment Bureau's programs, 
and this remains a challenge. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Looking at the mainland's position, Yau identified 
growing PRC press coverage of environmental issues, and noted 
that China's national policy on environment is changing in 
response.  For example, he said, during the recent APEC 
Ministerial, results on climate would not have been achieved 
without "Beijing's change of heart." 
 
HKG Open to USG Assistance 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Dr. Lloyd and the CG urged cooperation, offering 
technical expertise and assistance, and encouraging Yau and 
his team to keep asking "is that the best we can do?"  Lloyd 
went on to cite a long-term study of children's health and 
its linkages to air pollution, and a field study of air 
pollutants that identified unexpected sources (i.e. 
individual gas cans) as major pollutants.  In both cases, 
California officials enacted regulations that resulted in 
emissions reduction.  Yau expressed thanks for the offer of 
assistance, and mentioned that he had seen a project 
benefiting from P2E2-like work on his return trip from 
Guangzhou (Note: The CG provided Yau and his staff with the 
Consulate's new P2E2 promotional materials. End Note.) 
 
¶10. (SBU) Yau and his staff plan to visit the U.S. in 
mid-January 2008, and are interested in meetings in 
California to discuss environmental issues and energy policy. 
 The CG encouraged the delegation to add Washington and New 
York City to its itinerary, as each city has valuable 
regulatory and best practice information to share.  The CG 
offered Consulate assistance scheduling meetings for the 
trip, while Lloyd offered the assistance of his current 
organization, The International Council on Clean 
Transportation (ICCT), which meets in Hong Kong in November. 
 
¶11. (U) Meeting participants included: 
 
Hong Kong Government Representatives 
--Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau 
--Carlson CK Chan, Deputy Director, Environmental Protection 
Department 
--Chin-Wan Tse, Associate Director, Environmental Protection 
Department 
--Eric Chan, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary for 
the Environment 
 
U.S. Representatives 
--Consul General James Cunningham 
 
HONG KONG 00002533  003 OF 003 
 
 
--Dr. Alan Lloyd, former California EPA Secretary and Air 
Resources Board Chairman, and U.S. Consulate "American 
Speaker" visiting Hong Kong to present a series of seminars 
on air pollution solutions. 
--Dale Kreisher, Assistant Public Affairs Officer 
--Dawn Schrepel, Economic Officer 
Cunningham