January 2013

BEC Member Activity

BEC Addendum Submission to 2012-2013 Policy Address

Early in Year 2013, BEC submitted an addendum to our submission on the policy address to the Chief Executive’s Office. This paper focuses more on the priority areas identified by the Environment Bureau for the current five year term, and further elaborates BEC’s views on air quality, waste management and energy, and reiterate our views on carbon and the low-carbon economy.

BEC Events

BEC 2012 Seasonal Cocktail and Unveiling of Plaques

Around 150 business leaders, government officials, sustainability professionals and academics joined BEC 2012 Seasonal Cocktail on 12 December 2012. While enjoying food and wine to celebrate the festive season, guests and BEC Board Directors were also impressed by two exquisite and glamorous “green Christmas trees” on site. The trees are made with used glass bottles and soda cans. BEC hopes to use this creative way to illustrate our commitment to environmental protection and remind our members and guests of the importance of environment care.

On the same day, BEC also presented three plaques at BEC Headquarters to recognise BEC former Chairmen, current Board of Directors and Council Members for their contributions and supports to the organisation.

BEC IEE Delivers All-rounded Environmental Training Courses

BEC Institute of Environmental Education (IEE) organised two full-day courses in December 2012. The first one was a tailor-made training course on “BEAM Plus for Contractors” held on 1 December. A total of 61 participants learnt about the role of a contractor in complying with BEAM Plus. Another course was an open course on “Energy Management and Audit” held on 11 December 2012, which aimed to introduce the concept of energy management based on ISO 50001 for energy efficiency and sustainability. Participants found the course content comprehensive and relevant, and help them to apply the ISO 50001 in their companies.

In 2013, IEE will offer more courses in order to assist companies to enhance their competitiveness through expanding their knowledge in environmental management, green technologies and other important green topics. Please access here to find more information about IEE and the latest training courses provided.

BEC Members Event

Industry Visit to the Plant of Swire Coca-Cola Hong Kong

About 20 members joined the Industry Visit to the plant of Swire Coca-Cola Hong Kong on 7 December 2012. The highlight of the event was the water-saving and environmental initiatives implemented along the production lines of various beverages. Special thanks to Mr Joseph Chan for sharing his experience of his study tour to Antarctica in early 2012. During the visit, members also went to the plant’s history gallery which brought about many sweet childhood memories. Members appreciated this visit as informative and interesting.

BEC Activities

HBF “Our Harbour” Photo Competition

BEC’s initiative Harbour Business Forum (HBF) is organising “Our Harbour” Photo Competition to showcase the best of Victoria Harbour. The competition looks for photos that can best capture the beauty and uniqueness of the Harbour. It will run from mid-December 2012 to 28 February 2013. Photo entries falling into one of the six categories can be submitted online through the website or the Facebook page. While the public will be invited to vote online to select the winners of the three Public categories and the two School categories, a judging panel will review and select winners of the Professional category. For enquiries, please contact Ms Dorothy Lam at 2784 3938 or dorothy@bec.org.hk

CCBF Launches 4 “Knowledge Communities” in 2013

In 2013, Climate Change Business Forum (CCBF) will launch 4 member-led “knowledge communities”.

1. Climate adaptation: CCBF will build on the forthcoming Hong Kong Business Primer on Climate Change Adaptation to create a climate risk assessment tool expressly for Hong Kong businesses. The tool, to be co-developed with PricewaterhouseCoopers, will be launched in third or fourth quarter in 2013. There will also be a series of sector-focused workshops on climate induced risk and opportunities.
2. Building Energy Efficiency: CCBF will deploy its Building Energy Pledge and complementary Carbon-Smart Building study to convince more Hong Kong businesses to set aggressive carbon reduction goals.
3. Sustainability Toolbox: Changing internal behaviour is a key to realise sustainability goals. Indeed, behavioural change is a prerequisite for capturing the business resilience, radical efficiency, and eco-innovation that sustainability can deliver. CCBF will help sustainability professionals and their organisations capture that elusive value through workshops, tools, and HR standards.
4. Advocacy and Action: CCBF will use its annual Hong Kong Business Survey on Energy Efficiency & Climate Change and its Government Liaison platform to advocate for substantive steps toward a low-carbon economy.


BEC Upcoming Event

31 January 2013: BEC Leadership Networking Series: Sustainable Information Technology – Where do we Stand?

Information technology takes an important role in today’s business environment, which is one of the key elements in improving business operation efficiency and reducing carbon emissions in our daily operations.

In the upcoming BEC Leadership Networking Series, we would like to explore sustainable information technology both in public service and in commercial side. What sustainable IT our Government is applying to enhance its public services? Mr Kim Salkeld JP, Head of Efficiency Unit, Chief Secretary for Administration's Office from the HKSAR Government, is invited to talk about “Build More Sustainable Public Services”. By using various cases, Mr Salkeld will illustrate how the environmental performance of public services as well as the process efficiency and service quality can be improved through sustainable information technology.

For registration or enquiry, please contact Ms Skyla Chan (skyla@bec.org.hk).

BEC Upcoming Member Events

18 January 2013: Site Visit to Holiday Inn Express SoHo Hong Kong

On 18 January 2013, BEC will host a site visit to Holiday Inn Express SoHo Hong Kong . Holiday Inn Express SoHo Hong Kong is the first high rise building in the world to achieve Triple Platinum of Green Certificates: HK BEAM Plus (Final), US LEED and Singapore BCA Green Mark. Being a environmentally-friendly hotel in Hong Kong, it adopts numerous green designs and energy saving solutions. The Hotel saves energy by 58.5% against HK EMSD hotel energy consumption benchmark, and reduces carbon dioxide by 70% compared with peer hotels. Participants could have a better understanding of major environmental and sustainable features of the Hotel during the visit.

Hong Kong Green Building Council, supporting organisation of this visit, will recognise 2 General CPD hours for BEAM Pro Members for attending this event. To reserve a place, please return the registration form to membership@bec.org.hk. For more information, please contact Ms Jun Ng (jun@bec.org.hk).

March 2013: Site Visit to Energizing Kowloon East Office

BEC will organise an Industry Visit to the Energizing Kowloon East Office (EKEO) on mid-March 2013.

From this visit, members can have a close look to the innovative and green aspects of EKEO building - a champion of sustainability by using a raft of integrated green building technologies and features, lean construction methods and low embodied energy materials to become Hong Kong's first low carbon temporary office and attains the BEAM Plus Platinum (Provisional) rating. Through this visit, members could understand visionary and integrated approach, as well as key sustainable features in the development of the Office.

For more information, please contact Ms Jun Ng (jun@bec.org.hk).

BEC Supporting Events

BEC Members Corner

BEC e-Newsletter introduces a new section “BEC Members Corner”. BEC members can make use of this section to introduce their recent achievements, success stories, innovative ideas or solutions in environmental sustainability by submitting an English article with maximum 250 words to us. Please note the submission deadline for February’s BEC e-Newsletter is 21 January 2013 (Monday) while BEC reserves the rights of editing and publishing.

To submit an article or enquire about this section, please contact Ms Joey Hui (joey@bec.org.hk) or Ms Skyla Chan (skyla@bec.org.hk).

BEC Members Update

Please join BEC in welcoming the following members:

Corporate Member
Baguio Group Limited

Veolia Environmental Services Hong Kong Limited

Environmental International Limited (Upgraded)

General Member
BYME Engineering (HK) Limited