Nine companies walked away with a Gold Award and one with the Grand Award at the 2003 Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards on February 16 for their efforts to develop a green office culture and business practices, while 35 firms were awarded a Certificate of Merit for their environmental efforts.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao lauded companies participating in the awards for their efforts to limit their businesses' impact on the environment.

"Environmentally-friendly office practices are often easy to implement but can bring about real economic benefits to an organisation," she said. "For example, energy-efficient equipment can reduce energy costs and double sided printing can reduce paper costs. More importantly, organisations' efforts in green management will greatly enhance environmental awareness among staff. Implemented on a community level, this will help conserve finite resources and reduce pollution, which will in turn benefit the community as a whole." she said.

Each year since its establishment in 1999, the Awards Scheme Organising Committee decides on appropriate award categories for the year. This year, three distinctive awards were decided upon: Green Office Award, Green Property Management Award (Private Housing) and Best Environmental Reporting Award.

The Green Office Award is to encourage companies or organisations to take environmental measures to develop a green office culture within the workplace and honour organisations that have performed environmental management well in their businesses.

The Green Property Management Award (Private Housing) is designed for the organisations which have done well in incorporating green practices in real property management services to housing establishments.

The Best Environmental Reporting Award, which was launched in 2000, and then re-launched this year, aims to emphasise the importance of the Environmental Report as a management tool for an organisation.

The winners of the awards this year were selected through a three-phase assessment which included preliminary screening, detailed assessment and   final selection. The adjudicating panel with representatives from organisers, co-organisers and members of 2003 Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards Working Group interviewed the selected candidates to assess their environmental achievements in the final selection.