Editorial | Avoid complacency as Hong Kong air pollution creeps back
- An old problem re-emerges as life returns to normal in post-pandemic Hong Kong, and vigilance is required
- Air quality slips slightly in 2023 to second best year since 1997
Slowly and steadily, Hong Kong is recovering from the prolonged coronavirus pandemic. While the city is arguably no longer the same in many respects, the return to normality means many old problems have also come back.
Pollution is undoubtedly one of them.
According to the latest air quality report released by the government, air pollution returned to a “normal level” last year. This followed “slight” increases in pollutants such as respirable suspended particulates (PM10), fine suspended particulates (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide.
“With the resumption to normality of social and economic activities, the emissions of local air pollutants returned to their normal levels,” a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department said.
The public was relieved to learn last year that the air quality in 2022 was the best in a decade. Notwithstanding increases in some pollutants, the overall quality in 2023 was, thankfully, the second best since reunification in 1997, according to the department.
