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The following is issued on behalf of the Environmental Campaign Committee:
The 2008 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence was officially launched today (February 1) at Conference Hall, 1/F, New Annex, Main Wing, Central Government Offices, Central.
The scheme merges three government-initiated awards schemes, namely the Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards, the Wastewi$e Scheme and the Hong Kong Energy Efficiency Awards. It is a prestigious awards scheme which aims to encourage businesses and organisations to adopt green management, and to present them with an opportunity to benchmark their commitment towards environmental protection.
All businesses and organisations and their functional units operating primarily in Hong Kong are eligible to participate in the scheme. It provides two levels of recognition: Environmental Labels and Sectoral Awards.
Environmental Labels will be granted to participants who have attained a prescribed number of specific environmental goals. Participants may apply for one or more of the four Labels: Wastewi$e Label, Energywi$e Label, Indoor Air Quality Label and Eco-Product Label. Each of the labels is divided into the classes of "good" and "excellent" in accordance with the number of specific environmental goals attained. Application will be accepted all year round from April 2008.
The Sectoral Awards will be granted to organisations which have demonstrated all-round and outstanding environmental performance in an annual competition within designated sectors. The assessment criteria basically include Green Leadership, Programme and Performance and Partner Synergy. The weighting of these assessment criteria varies across the seven sectors of the Sectoral Awards. Participants may choose to compete for the Sectoral Awards within one of the following seven sectors: construction industry; financial institutions; hotels, restaurants and catering companies; property management; retailers; transport and logistics; and public sector and NGOs. For each sector, there will be one Gold Award, one Silver Award, one Bronze Award, one Small and Medium Enterprise Award and a maximum of 10 Merit Awards. The Sectoral Awards are open for application from April to June 2008.
The scheme will recognise the commendable performance of successful participants in environmental management. Awardees of the Environmental Labels and winners of the Sectoral Awards will be entitled to use the labels or year-specific award icons for promotional and publicity purposes. Each participant of the Sectoral Awards who entered the Stage 2 Assessment will receive a complimentary assessment report prepared by environmental experts on the organisation's environmental performance. Apart from a grand awards presentation ceremony, wide publicity on winners' achievements will also be arranged.
Officiating guests of the 2008 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence Launching Ceremony included Mr. Edward Yau Tang-wah, JP, Secretary for the Environment; Mr. Joseph Lee Chung-tak, BBS, JP, Chairman of the Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC); Professor Lam Kin-che, SBS, JP, Chairman of the Advisory Council on the Environment; Dr. Andrew Thomson, CEO of the Business Environment Council; Dr. Wai Tze-kong, Chairman of the Environmental Concern Sub-committee, The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce; Mr. Lau Kin Wah, Kevin, Executive Committee Member of The Chinese Manufacturers¡¦ Association of Hong Kong; Mr. Daniel Cheng, MH, Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries; Mr. Chan Fung Ping, Vice-President of the Hong Kong Chinese Importers¡¦ & Exporters¡¦ Association; Mr. Cliff Choi, Business Director of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service; Mr. Oscar Chow, Chairman of the Environment Committee, Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce; and Mr. Wilson Fung, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Productivity Council.
The 2008 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence is jointly organised by the Environmental Campaign Committee, Environmental Protection Department, Advisory Council on the Environment, Business Environment Council, The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, The Chinese Manufacturers¡¦ Association of Hong Kong, Federation of Hong Kong Industries, Hong Kong Chinese Importers' & Exporters' Association, Hong Kong Council of Social Service, Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and Hong Kong Productivity Council. The scheme is sponsored by the Environment and Conservation Fund.
Several information sessions will be conducted in March 2008 to brief interested organisations on the details of the scheme. For more information on the scheme, please visit our website at www.hkaee.org.hk.
For enquiries please call Mr Francis Wong at 2835 1212.
Ends/Friday, February 1, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:55
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