Hong Kong records best air quality in decade amid reduced economic activities caused by Covid pandemic
- Environmental officials optimistic city’s air quality will continue to improve in years to come with greater adoption of electric cars and clean energy
- But ozone remains an issue that must be tackled in cooperation with Guangdong and Macau, they say
They also expressed optimism on Thursday that the city’s air quality would continue to improve in the years to come with greater adoption of electric cars and clean energy, despite the expected boost in traffic as the city returned to normality.
Environmental Protection Department assistant director Stephen Siu Chi-wai described the overall air quality as showing a “discernible improvement” in the past decade.
“We are not suggesting that the Covid epidemic has played no role in improving our air quality, but we can see that we were on the right track for the past 10 years,” Siu said as the department presented its 2022 air quality report.
“Even as economic activities started rising in the latter half of 2022, air quality for the whole year did not get worse.”
According to the report, annual average concentrations of major air pollutants fell in 2022. Roadside PM10 was 29 micrograms per cubic metre, down from 33 in 2021, 31 in 2020, and 38 in 2019. The concentration of roadside PM2.5 was 18 micrograms per cubic metre, down from 20 in 2021, 19 in 2020, and 25 in 2019.
