Posted - February 19, 2014 -
By Vincent Wee - Seatrade Global
Hong Kong is once again innovating and
could in fact play a part in helping re-shape national policy in China
as regards emissions control.
Giving the keynote address at the China Maritime 2014,
Undersecretary for the Environment Christine Loh said that while the
policy direction at national level is towards onshore power, Hong Kong
believes that the easiest and fastest to implement solution to the
problem of emissions control is fuel switching.
Hong Kong authorities have spoken to government officials in neighboring Guangdong province up to vice-ministerial and ministerial
level about this, she said. "In a way, you could say Hong Kong is
attempting to change national policy," Loh said.
Highlighting the policy of the territory's government to make the
waters of the Pearl River Delta an emissions control area (ECA), Loh
acknowledged however that this "cannot happen in a short time" as
approvals need to be sought at many levels and ultimately needs to go up
to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Meanwhile she updated that the drafting work for the legislation that
will make Hong Kong the first in Asia to legislate fuel switching at
berth is well underway for presentation to the legislative council
(Legco), the territory's legislature, and it is hoped that it will be
ready for presentation and adoption before their summer recess in
mid-July.
Post to be found at:
http://www.seatrade-global.com/news/asia/hong-kong-leading-the-way-in-emissions-control-policy-in-asia.html
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