Media

Are the Socially Deprived Exposed to More Air Pollution in Hong Kong?
HKU-Cambridge CEERP reveals air pollution-induced environmental injustice

25 Jan 2018

Are the socially deprived exposed to a higher level of air pollution in Hong Kong? Can this exposure to air pollution therefore be seen as environmental injustice? Existing research on air pollution-induced environmental injustice in Hong Kong was based on sparse air pollution data due to the limited number of government pollution monitoring stations in the territory.

Recently, an interdisciplinary, breakthrough research was conducted by the HKU-Cambridge Clean Energy and Environment Research Platform (HKU-Cambridge CEERP). The research led by Professor Victor Li On-kwok and Dr Jacqueline Lam Chi-kei at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, the University of Hong Kong (HKU), was conducted through the development of a Granger Causality Model. This model utilised readily available urban dynamics data closely related with air pollution as proxy data to provide a fine-grained (100m X 100m) estimation of air pollution in Hong Kong, transforming the measurements of 16 government monitoring stations to 110,000 virtual stations.

This study revealed that the higher the Social Deprivation Index, the higher the mean PM_2.5 (Particulate Matter of width 2.5 microns or less) exposure. The postulation of air pollution-induced environmental injustice at the constituency area level in Hong Kong is justified. The paper was recently published in the journal Environmental Science and Policy.

The research team will meet the media to share the research findings and to highlight an emerging need for Hong Kong to develop more integrated, human-centric, location- and justice-based environmental policies to properly address air pollution-induced environmental injustice.

Details of the media briefing are as follows:
Date: January 29, 2018 (next Monday)
Time: 11:00 to 12:30
Venue: Conference Room, Room 515, 5/F, Haking Wong Building, HKU, Pokfulam, Hong Kong (MTR HKU Station Exit A2)

Spokespersons:
Professor Victor Li On-kwok 
Director, HKU-Cambridge Clean Energy and Environment Research Platform (CEERP)
Head, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, HKU
Chair of Information Engineering
Cheng Yu-Tung Professor in Sustainable Development

Dr Jacqueline Lam Chi-kei
Co-Director, HKU-Cambridge Clean Energy and Environment Research Platform (CEERP)
Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, HKU
Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Judge Business School, Cambridge University

Media contact:
Communications and Public Affairs Office Ms Rhea Leung (Tel: +852 2857 8555 / +852 9022 7446; Email: rhea.leung@hku.hk)
Faculty of Engineering Ms Bonnie Tsang (Tel: 3917 1924; Email: bonniepy@hku.hk)