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The following is issued on behalf of the Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC) :
The 2010 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence (HKAEE) were officially launched today (May 12) by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai.
Also at today's ceremony, Sectoral Awards were presented to the 2009 HKAEE winners.
The HKAEE aims to encourage businesses and organisations to adopt green management and presents them with an opportunity to benchmark their commitment to environmental protection. It is a merger and extension of three former government-initiated schemes, namely the Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards, the Wastewi$e Scheme and the Hong Kong Energy Efficiency Awards.
All businesses and organisations and their functional units operating primarily in Hong Kong are eligible to participate in the scheme, consisting of the Sectoral Awards, the Carbon"Less" Certificates and the Environmental Labels.
Under the HKAEE, Sectoral Awards are granted to organisations which have demonstrated all-round and outstanding environmental performance through an annual competition in nine specific sectors. These sectors are construction industry; financial, insurance and accounting institutions; hotels and restaurants; manufacturing; property management; public sector; retailers; schools; and transport and logistics. The assessment criteria include "green leadership", "programme and performance" and "partner synergy".
A spokesman for the ECC said 403 entries competed for the Sectoral Awards in the 2009 HKAEE. Winners of the Sectoral Awards were selected in a two-stage assessment process, followed by the final adjudication by panels chaired by Professor Lap-chee Tsui, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Hong Kong, and comprising representatives from various trade associations, professional bodies and government departments.
A total of 34 gold, silver, bronze and SME awards, and 67 certificates of merit of the 2009 HKAEE Sectoral Awards were presented to the businesses and organisations from the nine sectors. Display panels of winners were set up at the venue to highlight their environmental achievements.
The Carbon"Less" Certificates Scheme, which was first introduced in the 2009 HKAEE, aims to recognise buildings and organisations which have achieved a verified absolute reduction of overall carbon emissions. Its objective is to encourage building owners and organisations to quantify their carbon footprint and to take measures to curb it.
The spokesman said the Carbon"Less" Certificates have been very well received, with more than 60 applications filed in the 2009 HKAEE. Some of the participants have reduced more than 10% of their carbon emissions over a period of 12 months. The spokesman said participation in the scheme will grow as more organisations learn about the benefits of reducing carbon emissions.
In addition, Environmental Labels are granted to applicants who have attained a prescribed number of specific environmental goals. Applicants may apply for one or more of the four labels in these areas : waste reduction (for "Wastewi$e" label), energy saving (for "Energywi$e" label), indoor air quality (for "IAQwi$e" label) and product life-cycle (for "Productwi$e" label). Each of the labels is divided into either a class of "good" or of "excellent" in accordance with the number of environmental goals the applicant has been able to reach.
The spokesman said the response to the Environmental Labels was very good with nearly 800 applications received in the 2009 HKAEE.
The 2010 HKAEE is now open for applications for the Sectoral Awards, the Carbon"Less" Certificates and the Environmental Labels.
Also officiating at today's ceremony were the Chairman of the Environmental Campaign Committee, Mr Joseph Lee, the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, the Permanent Secretary for the Environment, Ms Anissa Wong, and representatives of the nine joint organisers.
Since its introduction in 2008, the HKAEE has been jointly organised by the ECC, the Environmental Protection Department, the Advisory Council on the Environment, the Business Environment Council, the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, the Hong Kong Chinese Importers' & Exporters' Association, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Productivity Council. The scheme is sponsored by the Environment and Conservation Fund.
A number of information sessions are being conducted from April to June to brief interested organisations on the details of the scheme. For more information on the scheme, please visit the HKAEE website at www.hkaee.org.hk or call the hotline telephone number 2788 5903.
For enquiries, please call the secretary to the ECC, Ms Eunice Chan, at 2835 1212.
Ends/Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Issued at HKT 16:26
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