In 2017, 10,400 people in Hong Kong died from respiratory diseases and nearly 193,000 were taken to hospital, government statistics show. But where is the smog coming from? Click a polluter on the illustration above to discover the sources of pollution in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s four power stations, two in Tuen Mun and one each on Lamma Island and North Lantau Island, produce 46 per cent of the sulphur dioxide found in the city’s air.
A fleet of about 763,000 registered vehicles in Hong Kong – 17 per cent of which are trucks and buses – contributes more than half of the carbon monoxide in the air. That’s about one vehicle for every 10 residents.
Hong Kong was founded as a port city and last year nearly 27,000 ocean-going vessels came to the city. Now shipping is the major contributor of three in five harmful airborne pollutants.
Flights arriving at Hong Kong International Airport have nearly doubled in the 10 years to 2017, with an accompanying increase in plane exhaust. But overall aviation contributes a fraction of the total pollution in the city’s air.
Cigarette smoking is included in this category, but the major contributor of other combustion pollutants is from fixed equipment at construction sites or at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal.
We may smell the fumes on the street, from a body shop, a print shop or even tasty smells from a restaurant, and think nothing of them. But this category contributes nearly 58 per cent of harmful volatile organic compounds to the air.
Pollution comes from fires in country parks from time to time.