News & Stories

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is partnering with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government in a 3-year groundbreaking cross-border study to monitor the air quality on land, at sea and in the air, which will give us a more in-depth understanding of the formation and transportation of ozone in Hong Kong and across the Greater Bay Area (GBA). 

By Prof. Ning Zhi, Associate Professor of Environment and Sustainability Marine emissions account for 40 percent of air pollution sources in Hong Kong - making them one of the city's most significant pollutant sources. Given the SAR's status as one of the busiest ports in the world, enforcing clean fuel laws is absolutely essential in our quest to clean up our air. Traditionally, policing high sulfur fuel usage is a time-consuming affair: checking ship logs, collecting samples from fuel tanks, taking them back to the lab and then conducting analyses. This process takes days and even weeks. By the time these measurements are complete, the ships are likely to be already far from Hong Kong. Regulators have been looking for a more efficient solution to detect and screen the vessels violating the fuel sulfur cap regulations.