Our First Anniversary was held on Thursday, December 13, 2001 at Landmark, Central.

The First Anniversary was well received by both the public and private sectors, with the number of participants exceeding 80. We were very honoured to have Mr. Mike Stokoe, JP, Deputy Director of Environmental Protection to be our officiating guest and deliver an inspiring speech on “Environmental Responsible Purchasing”. Other guests included consulate-generals of various countries, senior government officials and management of business enterprises. It has also attracted the media’s attention and their representatives conducted interviews with our special guests and our executive committee members.

Announced at the First Anniversary included the following issues:

1. The Progress of Green Council

The Green Council has made good progress in promoting environmental awareness to the general public and assisting local and international enterprises in improving their environmental performance. By organising the Creative Environmental Friendly Robotics Tournament in October 2001, we have encouraged students to apply their creative and innovative approaches to environmental protection. The Symposium on Indoor Air Quality & Energy Efficient Technology, jointly organised with other organisations and academic institutions at the end of November 2001 witnessed our efforts to encourage improvements in indoor air quality.

2. Presentation of the first batch of Green Labels

One of our initiatives is to promote green consumerism. The first batch of Green Labels, the first independent voluntary eco-labelling scheme in Hong Kong for environmentally preferable products, has been presented to successful applicants. The Green Label is an independent and publicly accepted logo which identifies products and services that are more environmentally friendly to others in the market. Since the launch of the scheme in December 2000, positive response has been received from both the public and private sectors as well as the public.

3. Introduction of the China Environmental Labelling Scheme in Hong Kong

With China’s accession to WTO, there will be a big potential market for green consumerism. At the First Anniversary, we were pleased to announce the introduction of the China Environmental Labelling Scheme into Hong Kong and the appointment of Green Council by the Secretariat of the China Certification Committee for Environmental Labelling as their sole representative outside mainland China for accepting and processing applications for the Chinese green label. Positive response for the scheme is expected from the business sector.

4. The Introduction of the Cyber Green Center

The revamped website provides up-to-date information about the Green Council and the environment. One of the new features is the introduction of the Cyber Green Center (CGC) which serves as a comprehensive one-stop on-line platform for environmental information.