Top priority: Chief Executive Donald Tsang says the Government's job is to forge a community consensus to tackle the air pollution problem.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang says people's divergent views on air pollution reflects society's mixed attitudes on the issue, adding the Government's job is to forge a community consensus.

Attending the Business Clear Air Conference today, Mr Tsang signed the Clean Air Charter on behalf of the Government. He said if duly followed, the charter will bring significant improvement to Hong Kong's air quality.

Charter details

The charter requires signatories to identify relevant standards of emission, review their own performance relative to those standards, and make solid plans to meet them on a voluntary basis.

It requires continuous monitors for large and medium emitters and regular disclosure of their total emissions, energy and fuel use. It also requires businesses to adopt special measures to cut pollution on bad air days.

"The experience of other cities shows that this may involve special arrangements for working from home to avoid travelling, cutting air-conditioning and lighting by half, encouraging car pooling, using only public transport, adopting flexible working hours to smooth out peak traffic, and reducing the total number of vehicles on the streets. We know these are measures that will impact people's lives and routines, and impose inconvenience," Mr Tsang said.

Public feedback

The Chief Executive said the Council for Sustainable Development will soon conduct an exercise to engage the public and forge some consensus on whether such measures should be adopted in Hong Kong on days when the Air Pollution Index is expected to be high.

The support of business will be vital to the success of this engagement process, he added.