BEC celebrated 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner "Celebrating the Past & Embracing the Future"

Business Environment Council (BEC) celebrated yet another successful Gala Dinner on 10 September 2010. Mrs Carrie Lam, JP, Secretary for the Development and senior government officials joined BEC’s 20th anniversary together with over 200 guests, including BEC board directors, members, long term partners and supporters. BEC and our guests enjoyed the dinner and celebrated the past and looked forward to future’s collaboration and engagement in the pursuit of a sustainable Hong Kong

In his welcoming speech, Prof John Chai, BEC’s Chairman did a quick response to the Public consultation on climate change strategy and action agenda, newly launched on the same day by the HKSAR Government. “It is humble to say that the environment has not become better, compared to 20 years ago. With a target to reduce 50-60% of carbon intensity by 2020, we require collaborative efforts to achieve this target.” Twenty years ago, BEC first set out a vision and mission to promote sustainability. BEC will continue to advocate the business case for sustainable development, and promote sustainability amongst our members and the broader community. We envision that Hong Kong’s businesses will be recognized as Asia’s leaders in practicing and enabling sustainable development, and in the transition to a low carbon economy and pollution free environment.

Before leading the toast, Mrs Lam congratulated BEC on the success in the past 20 years, such as initiating Harbour Business Forum, Climate Change Business Forum and the recent formation of Hong Kong Green Building Council. “It is great to see that BEC is a long and well established organization to promote environmental protection and sustainability, and surely, the HKSAR Government will continue to work very closely with the Council and the business sectors on the sustainable journey.”

As a membership-based organization, BEC endeavors to fulfill the different sectors’ needs in the business community. To ensure the membership structure reflecting the reality in the existing business environment, BEC is pleased to officially introduce a new membership category – Corporate Member. This new category fits nicely between the long established Council Member and General Member categories. BEC welcomes multinational companies, locally listed businesses or overseas companies with substantial presence or operations in HK
to become Corporate Members. Upon becoming Corporate Members, companies can join forces with other BEC members as well as other stakeholders to contribute to the sustainable development of the business community, and to share their expertise and best practices.

In this special evening, BEC presented “Certificate of Membership” to recognize members’ support and contributions to BEC over the past year. It also served as an appreciation to new members.

To conclude the 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner, Dr Andrew Thomson, Chief Executive Officer of BEC expressed his gratitude to all guests for making the event a success. “Special thanks go to our members, sponsors, partners and everyone who have provided support, guidance and inspiration to BEC, we much look forward to working with you to pursue a low carbon Hong Kong in the years ahead, and we hope to see you again in the 21st celebration next year.”