The aim of this session is to provide some foundational training and development for corporate sustainability practitioners who have just entered or are considering entering the field.
• Introduction to GRI Sustainability Reporting Guideline - the most widely used sustainability reporting standard in the world
• The latest development of HKEx related to climate change
• Green Taxonomy development in Hong Kong
• Decarbonizing the value chain
• What is Greenwashing and its impacts on businesses
• Q&A

• 

  Mr. Vincent Kong

  Project Manager - Sustainability (Head of Project Sustainability) at Sun Hung Kai Properties

Product stewardship is a product-centered approach to reduce the impact on the environment. During the lifecycle of a product, from design conception to end-of-life disposal, environmental pollution occurs at every step.

• What can the parties involved (including designers, manufacturers, retailers, government, and users) do to minimize these impacts?
• How can different industries collaborate in fighting climate change?
• What paradigm shift is needed for sustainable pollution prevention?

Ms. Sarah Mak will lead us through an exploration to these questions and discuss the mindset change required.

• 

  Ms. Sarah Mak

  Director, of SMC Solutions Ltd

As a result of environmental threats posed by economic growth, population increase and global challenges, environmental public policy and international environmental conventions are now an important part of sustainable management and have become very important mechanisms to address market failures and ensure sustainability. Environmental problems can originate in many ways and require different policy responses such as regulations, economic instruments, information tools, technologies and voluntary actions at the local, regional, national or international level.

When substantive scientific evidence points towards environmental damage on a regional or international scale and international awareness and consensus emerge, an International Environmental Convention may be formulated. Governments around the world would gather to discuss and negotiate the terms of rules, regulations or protocols to be agreed upon to curb such damage.

Prof Elvis Au will discuss the evolution and general principles of environmental public policies, the range of environmental policies, the key factors and stakeholders involved, and the essence of the key environmental public policy tools and mechanisms deployed in Hong Kong. He will also highlight the key International Environmental Conventions relevant to Hong Kong and discuss the roles they play, the challenges in implementation and their impact to local businesses and government policy making.

• 

  Prof. Elvis Au, BBS

  Adjunct Professor at the University of Hong Kong

Sustainability reporting has been a hot topic in the recent years. Preparing a sustainability report is more than compiling a set of numbers together. To have a report that can provide a clear picture of the performance of a company, it is important that metrics and targets are meaningful and relevant. The quality of the data and the integrity of the management is also critical to avoid any false claims leading to potential greenwashing.

Mr. Eddie Tse will share with us his experience in sustainability reporting at Gammon Construction Limited. Although disclosure is voluntary as Gammon is not listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Eddie will discuss how demands from upstream value chain partners drive the need for transparency and disclosure of ESG performance, and how Gammon has been able to satisfy these demands.

• 

  Mr. Eddie Tse

  Group Sustainability Manager at Gammon Construction Limited

Environmental assessment is the assessment of the positive and negative environmental consequences of a plan, policy, programme, or project to ensure that decision makers consider the environmental impacts when deciding whether or not to proceed with a project.

Mr. Freeman Cheung will share with us the fundamentals of the environmental impact assessment, site assessment and risk assessment processes.

• 

  Mr. Freeman Cheung

  SVP, Environment, Greater China at AECOM

This two-hour workshop is aimed at environmental professionals who are not ecologists.

The session will cover some basic concepts and theories of ecology and biodiversity, human impacts on biodiversity, and international conventions on conservation under the Environmental Science, Management and Policy section of the HKIQEP Professional Assessment Syllabus.

• 

  Dr. Billy Hau

  Principal Lecturer and Programme Director, MSc in Environmental Management of The University of Hong Kong