Asia Games Environmental Plan - Guangzhou Looks to Beijing

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000567 SENSITIVE SIPDIS EMB BEIJING FOR DOE USDOE FOR OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY USDOE FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS STATE FOR EAP/CM, OES, AND EB STATE PASS EPA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV ECON PREL BEXP CH SUBJECT: Asia Games Environmental Plan - Guangzhou Looks to Beijing for Help on Pollution Control ¶1. (SBU) Summary: As Guangzhou prepares to host the 2010 Asia Games next November, it will use as a model pollution control measures implemented in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Environmental clean-up efforts already underway in Guangzhou, but the event's organizing committee has invited top experts from the Olympics' pollution control team to help Guangzhou replicate Beijing's success. While acknowledging that increased industrial production linked to a broader economic recovery worldwide will likely impede pollution control efforts, local officials and an influential policy advisor expressed optimism that measures such as the removal of highly polluting vehicles from circulation in urban areas and oil-gas vapor recovery at gas stations will result in dramatically improved air quality for the Games. Although targets may not be met, high-level attention to Guangzhou's pollution problems represent a unique opportunity for cooperation between U.S. and Chinese businesses, academics, NGOs, and policy makers at the national and sub-national levels. End Summary. -------------- -------------- BEIJING EXPERTS ASKED TO PULL OFF REPEAT PERFORMANCE -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The Guangzhou Asia Games Organizing Committee (GAGOC) is under a lot of pressure to achieve pollution reduction targets in time for next November's Asia Games, according to a contact working closely with the committee. The contact also shared his opinion that the committee lacks both the expertise and technical capacity and possibly the political clout as well that Beijing was able to pull together to bring down pollution levels in time for the Olympics. These factors may explain the committee's decision to invite the same team of Beijing-based experts who developed and implemented the Olympic Action Plan to propose pollution reduction measures for Guangzhou city and Guangdong province. A joint working committee has been set up to implement the team's recommendations, which are set to be finalized in a report later this month. ¶3. (SBU) Inviting a team of experts from Beijing may have an additional motivation. According to an influential environmental policy advisor based in Guangdong, putting the onus on Beijing to propose a pollution control plan absolves the local government of responsibility if targets are not met. This assessment confirms statements made by our contact working with the committee that members are fearful of the consequences for their continued employment if the established targets are not met. -------------- -------------- MEASURES TARGET VEHICLES, GAS STATIONS, RESTAURANTS -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Although the report has not been finalized, a recent meeting with Zhong Liuju (protect),deputy team leader of the Asia Games air quality taskforce, revealed some measures that have already been enacted. These include oil-gas vapor recovery at service stations, reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions at oil refineries, control of dust emissions from construction sites, and the development of a timetable for removing highly polluting, or "yellow vehicles" from the city's roads. According to a local news source, 24% of the 1.8 million vehicles registered in Guangzhou will be banned from circulation on city roads by June 2010. Information posted on the Guangzhou municipal government website notes that as part of the city's efforts to put on a "Green Asia Games," the government also plans to control soot emissions from city restaurants. ¶5. (SBU) The goal of these air pollution control measures, according to Fan Shaojia, Director of the Institute of Environmental Meteorology at Sun Yat Sen University, is to bring SO2, NO2, and particulate matter emissions down and improve air quality up to national level II (blue sky) standards. Although both Zhong and Fan noted Guangdong province's progress in recent years in using desulfurization techniques at power plants to bring down SO2 levels, they expressed concern regarding the trend of increasing VOC and GUANGZHOU 00000567 002 OF 002 particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) levels. At the same time, Fan cited optimism that oil-gas vapor recovery measures, which involve installing an accordion-like sheath around gas tank nozzles to prevent gas fumes from escaping into the atmosphere, would be effective in bringing down both VOC and ozone smog levels. -------------- -------------- FACTORIES HAVE NOWHERE TO GO, WATERWAYS TOUGHER TO CLEAN -------------- -------------- ¶6. (SBU) One of the most successful pollution control measures implemented in the run-up to the Olympics was the relocation of factories from Beijing's urban center to rural areas. However, as the province that generates one-eighth of China's total GDP, Guangdong's urban and rural areas are already so densely populated with factories and other polluting industries that relocation is not a practical alternative. The amount of pollution already generated by these factories will only increase, according to Fan, as Guangdong and surrounding provinces increase production levels to meet new demand resulting from worldwide economic recovery. ¶7. (SBU) Even if Beijing's recommended measures do succeed in improving air quality in time for the Games, there appears to be less optimism that proposed measures to clean up rivers and waterways will achieve any significant outcome. According to the municipal government's website, 21 stream pollution mitigation projects and 47 industrial sewage treatments plants will be built, enlarged, or reconstructed in time for the Games. While he acknowledged the government's planned projects, our contact shared his impression that water pollution is not a top priority for the organizing committee. He cited as an example the lack of efforts to clean up a highly polluted river that borders the Games Village, which is currently under construction. Another obstacle to effective water pollution control is the lack of incentives for polluting industries to comply with existing regulations. According to Fan, whereas companies and factories that control emissions of air pollutants are awarded economic incentives, the only award for companies that do not emit pollutants into waterways is compliance with local laws and ordinances, which are often poorly enforced and lack penalties that serve as an effective deterrent. -------------- -------------- CAPITALIZING ON HIGH LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT ATTENTION -------------- -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Comment: Although it is not clear proposed targets will be achieved, Guangzhou's pollution problems will increasingly be the subject of high-level attention in the lead up to the Games. Preparation for the Games in Guangzhou may provide a unique opportunity for cooperation between U.S. and Chinese businesses, academics, NGOs, and policy makers at the national and sub-national levels. Fan agreed with this assessment, noting specific areas of collaboration could include ozone pollution control, acid rain prevention and control, satellite remote sensing to measure the impact of urbanization on pollution levels, and joint research on hurricane and typhoons. Although the organizing committee may be focused on the short-term objective of improving air and water quality for the Games, it may be willing to consider cooperation proposals with long-term objectives, especially if such proposals allow local officials to showcase environmental protection efforts. End Comment. GOLDBECK