To achieve the vision of “sustainable development” in Hong Kong, it requires the parallel approach of nurturing positive consumption attitudes and lifestyles, combined with trade practices that reflect the same sustainable beliefs. The Consumer Council and the Centre for Business Sustainability (CBS) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School jointly organised a conference entitled “Driving Sustainability: Responsible Modelling and Effective Communication”. The Conference aimed to facilitate sharing and exchange of ideas among stakeholders, thereby driving Hong Kong to progress towards a sustainable future.
The Conference is held at Cheng Yu Tung Building, CUHK today (24 June 2021). The Guest-of-Honour, the Honourable Bernard Charnwut Chan, GBM, GBS, JP, Convenor of the Non-Official Members of the Executive Council officiated the opening ceremony with Mr. Paul Lam Ting-kwok, SC, JP, Chairman of the Consumer Council and Professor Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor and President of CUHK. Other featured speakers, including Professor Nora Tam, BBS, JP, Chairperson of the Consumer Council’s Working Group on Sustainable Consumption Programme; Mr. Lam Chiu-ying, Adviser of the Hong Kong Countryside Foundation; and Mr. Francis Ngai, Founder of BottLess, a social enterprise, shared their experience and ideas of driving sustainable development and consumption with the Conference participants.
The Conference covered a summary findings of the Consumer Council’s recently published “Embracing Sustainable Consumption for a Happy Life ─ A Tracking Study on Consumer Behaviour” report. The study examined the changes in consumers’ “Awareness and Attitude” as well as “Behaviour and Readiness” towards sustainable consumption as compared with 2016. The latest research on sustainability communication conducted by the CBS, CUHK, as well as the Hong Kong Business Sustainability Index were also introduced at the Conference.
Speaking as the Guest-of-Honour, the Honourable Bernard Charnwut Chan addressed the Conference, “Although the road ahead is long and difficult, we believe the Hong Kong Government would take a positive attitude to embrace the opinions and feedback from different sectors of society. With more environmental initiatives and programmes launched by green groups and the private sector, I trust that with society’s active participation and positive attitude, we can move in lockstep to reach our common vision of making Hong Kong a sustainable city.”
Mr. Paul Lam Ting-kwok, SC, Chairman of the Consumer Council, said, “To build Hong Kong into a sustainable city, the key is tripartite effort and collaboration from the Government, businesses and consumers. In recent years, the Government and businesses have proactively launched initiatives to promote sustainable consumption. However, if the pace is not in line with consumers’ awareness and expectations, the effort will be greatly discounted, and progress may even be stalled.”
Professor Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor and President of CUHK, remarked, “In our new 5-year strategic plan, CUHK has defined its institutional goals under the overarching theme ‘Excellence with Purpose and Responsibility’. We seek to serve the community and the world by generating actionable knowledge and training next generation of global citizens for the welfare and sustainability of the world. I appreciate the effort of the Centre for Business Sustainability at CUHK Business School in promoting policy-oriented research and responsible business practices, as well as its collaboration with the Consumer Council in driving sustainable consumption.”
Mr. Lam Chiu-ying, Adviser of the Hong Kong Countryside Foundation, “Existential crisis is not a joke. According to the World Bank, the fashion industry is emitting 10% of the world’s carbon dioxide emission. Between 2000 and 2014, the pieces of clothes produced each year has doubled. Homo sapiens are born to consume, but we can be innovative in our behaviour and save the world by buying less. Buy only what you need, not what you want. Buy things that last longer. Buy less, buy local, buy seasonal. People are the agents of change.”
Mr. Francis Ngai, Founder of BottLess, said, “Fear or hope? We might need BOTH! Fear gives us the reason to change, Hope leads us to sustainable behaviour!”
About the Consumer Council’s “Embracing Sustainable Consumption for a Happy Life ─ A Tracking Study on Consumer Behaviour”
The Consumer Council published its first sustainable consumption (SC) study report in 2016 that included findings from a SC baseline survey conducted in 2015. The baseline survey revealed that consumers were fairly concerned and ‘aware about the environmental impact of their consumption behaviour, but did not always act consistently to reflect this concern. After 5 years, the Council conducted a tracking study entitled “Embracing Sustainable Consumption for a Happy Life ─ A Tracking Study on Consumer Behaviour” to monitor changes in consumers’ attitude and behaviour towards SC, as well as to examine the latest developments of SC locally and overseas, so as to formulate recommendations to stakeholders to foster collaboration among all. The study was released on 17 June 2021. For details, please visit:
https://www.consumer.org.hk/ws_en/competition_issues/reports/20210617.html
About CUHK Business School
CUHK Business School comprises two schools – Accountancy and Hotel and Tourism Management – and four departments – Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics, Finance, Management and Marketing. Established in Hong Kong in 1963, it is the first business school to offer BBA, MBA and Executive MBA programmes in the region. Today, CUHK Business School offers 10 undergraduate programmes and 18 graduate programmes including MBA, EMBA, Master, MSc, MPhil and Ph.D. The School currently has more than 4,800 undergraduate and postgraduate students from 20+ countries/regions.
About Centre for Business Sustainability, CUHK
The Centre for Business Sustainability (CBS) is a collaboration between the Department of Management and the Department of Government and Public Administration at CUHK. Founded in June 2018, the CBS mission is to promote business sustainability as a viable and profitable business model through conducting innovative research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability management practices in the region. CBS also aim to transfer the acquired knowledge of CSR applications to both academic and business communities. The centre’s projects include Business Sustainability Indexes on listed companies and SMEs, local companies and corporations based in the Greater China Region.
The Conference is partially supported by a grant from the Sustainable Development Fund (SDF). The Conference is part of the project "Sustainable Consumption Behaviour Study". The Project is funded by the SDF.