Hong Kong minister to push for Pearl River Delta low-emissions zone

Hong Kong’s under-secretary for the environment Christine Loh has said that she aims to make the whole of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) a low-emissions shipping zone.

The PRD area includes the ports of Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzen; it accounts for 12% of everything that is shipped (measured by tonnage) and 60m people live there.

Loh told the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) conference in Hamburg: “You [in North America and Europe] are the ones with the Emission Control Areas (ECAs) and the Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs). We want that too. Our longer-term aim, hopefully in a few years, is to make the whole PRD area an ECA.”