As a minimum - elements in ETWB Circular Memorandum No. 1/2007, including: Controlling Officer's Profile
of Key Responsibilities; Environmental Goal; Environmental Policy; Environmental Objectives, Targets and
Milestones; Environmental Management and Performance ; Environmental Actions Requiring Special Attention
To go beyond the minimum - additional elements in EPD's A Guide to Environmental Reporting for
Controlling Officers
To go further - additional elements in EPD's A Benchmark for Environmental Performance Reports
Reflect and address the significant, relevant, direct and indirect environmental issues arising from your
programme and policy areas as well as your operations
Sufficiently reflect the size, nature and the environmental influence of your department/bureau/organization
Incorporate the recommendations provided in the ETWB Circular Memorandum No. 1/2007 and EPD's A Guide
to Environmental Reporting for Controlling Officers
Include other related requirements of your department/bureau/organization and where possible, e.g.
efficiency enhancement, budget-saving initiatives, sustainable practices and policy decisions, supply-chain
management, occupational health and safety requirements, etc.
Seek opportunities for policy integration, e.g. environmental, health and safety policy, sustainability
policy
Incorporate ISO 14001 EMS Standard requirements on policy if your department/bureau/organization is
planning to adopt the system, certify to the Standard or operate in line with its requirements.
Review policies of relevant departments/bureaux/organizations in Hong Kong and other countries for ideas
and inspiration
Should balance the coverage of general issues with significant and controversial issues
All issues must be relevant to a department's core operations or programme areas, or to a bureau's core
policy and supervisory areas
Incorporate issues that address stakeholder concerns and target audience-expectations
Incorporate issues that will require special attention in the short, medium and longer terms
Select issues that link environmental policy commitments with significant aspects and performance, i.e.
a link or thread running through the report sections
Report readers, target audiences or stakeholders may include the HKSAR government, other local and
overseas government departments/bureaux, the general community and specific communities with concerns related
to the reporting department/bureau, local and international NGOs, educational institutions, staff, contractors
and the general public.
Report readers or stakeholders are likely to be concerned with:
Approach to and progress with significant and controversial issues relevant to the operations and
decision-making of the reporting department/bureau
Vision, policy and commitment towards environmental protection and/or
sustainability
Direction and actual programmes to attaining the vision and commitment
Any changes in policy in the short- and long-term future
Achievements and improvements in environmental performance with regard to
relevant significant issues, and how these benefit Hong Kong and its communities
Future targets
Report readers or stakeholders' concerns should be addressed with an honest and balanced view, e.g. do not
hide or evade issues, do not distort achievement levels, explain why certain efforts/targets failed and
provide proposed remedial measures, etc.
To comprehensively and meaningfully report on environmental performance, 3 basic, logical steps should be
included at a minimum. These are: 1) describing the environmental issues related to the programme and policy
areas and operations of your department/bureau/organization; 2) describing the specific initiatives and
programmes that target those mentioned environmental issues; 3) describing the results and environmental
outcomes of the initiatives and programmes undertaken.
Step 3 must be included to satisfactorily meet the aim of reporting. It is not enough just to describe
the initiatives and programmes undertaken. This alone does not provide an indication of how environmental
performance is improved.
Develop and use indicators as needed to describe the results and environmental outcomes
Use normalized indicators wherever possible and appropriate
Pick direct, measurable indicators that enable you to track the key environmental
impacts, benefits or results arising from your operations and the environmental programmes implemented.
These indicators should support the collection of data by measurement, counting, or mathematical
estimation.
Examples include: "monthly/yearly electricity consumption in kWh" for
operational statistics or an energy conservation programme; "number of participants",
"number of training sessions", and/or "number of environmental topics covered" for an
environmental training programme; "number of types of environmentally-preferable products
procured" for a green purchasing programme; "number of incidents exceeding environmental license
limits" for a compliance improvement programme.
For other example indicators, refer to reports prepared by other public sector
organizations and the ISO 14031 guidance on environmental performance indicators
To report performance:
Include direct indicators that report on the results of the environmental
programmes implemented in absolute terms (e.g. total tonnes of paper collected for recycling).
Note that it is also important to support quantitative results with qualitative
explanations of performance (e.g. for green procurement, how you define "environmentally preferable
product")
To extend further, include normalized indicators (or relative indicators) to
supplement or emphasize information (e.g. tonnes of paper collected for recycling per employee, per
project or per office)
Include a good mix of management performance indicators (e.g. indicators on
environmental policy implementation and awareness raising), operational performance indicators (i.e.
indicators on environmental consumption and waste generation levels arising from your operations) and
environmental condition indicators (i.e. indicators on the resultant environmental condition given the
impact/influence of your operations).
Best to follow the specification in the ETWB Circular Memorandum No. 1/2007 which is the use of the calendar year
In line with best reporting practices, should consider adopting a timeframe that is most relevant and
meaningful to measure and report environmental performance in accordance with the operations/programme
areas/decision-making cycle
For environmental reports incorporated in annual reports or sustainability reports, the reporting
timeframe could be the financial year to ensure consistency and integrity of the integrated report
For reporting organizations operating within a specific fiscal year timeframe (e.g. educational
institutions), the fiscal year could be used if it is best to reflect the corresponding environmental
performance
Set departmental objectives and if needed, divisional objectives to support the departmental objectives
Then define targets as per these objectives
Targets could be phased into longer terms, e.g. 2-year targets, 3-year targets, 5-year targets
Set reasonable, achievable yet challenging and meaningful targets
Consult individual operating units and divisions to devise the most applicable target levels
Use historical data as a reference when setting targets
Consider other departmental/divisional objectives and targets in related areas to seek opportunities to
integrate or set complementary objectives and targets
Identify the specific concerns and expectations of fellow staff members and management level with regard
to environmental performance improvement and seek opportunities to address these concerns through the
implementation of environmental programmes and the reporting of the achievements
Example: the achievement of environmental measures suggested by staff; environmental cost savings;
environmental awards won by the department/bureau/organization; environmental outreach and charity
programmes with staff and management involvement, etc.
Reporting as a means to measure, evaluate, reflect upon and plan for environmental performance and
improvement for the reporting department/bureau as a whole
Reporting provides assurance and benchmarking opportunities for management level
Reporting as a means to recognize efforts and achievements of fellow staff members
No readily available template exists that would be appropriate for all organizations (i.e. "one size
doesn't fit all")
Develop your own template using the guidance provided in the ETWB Circular Memorandum No. 1/2007, EPD's A
Guide to Environmental Reporting for Controlling Officers and A Benchmark for Environmental
Performance Reports
Also observe international guidelines and guidance (e.g. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Coalition
for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA))
Also observe how other departments/bureaux structure their report
Review reports prepared by other organizations and companies that have received awards (e.g. ECC's
Eco-Business Awards, ACCA's Environmental Reporting Awards)
Consider what is most important to the department/bureau
Consider any urgent matters and stakeholder concerns that must be addressed
Consider how reporting could help the department/bureau address those urgent matters
Strike a reasonable balance between both needs, e.g. a medium sized report meeting all of the PELB
requirements and a number of more important and relevant EPD Guidebook and Benchmark Tool requirements.
Pick and screen issues effectively, for example
Use effective and concise presentation methods to overcome length constraints, e.g. tables, charts,
pictures, highlights, bullet points, lists, etc.
Identify strategy to expand reporting in the future
Should choose a medium that best fits the department/bureau's needs with respect to policy, monetary
resources, human resources, time resources, distribution needs, concerned stakeholder group's coverage and
accessibility
Should observe and consider:
the memo from EPD on the distribution of hardcopies to libraries and EPD resource
centres
the government's general initiative towards paperless office
language requirements, disadvantaged groups' requirements
environmental impacts (e.g. paper vs CD-Rom vs web vs electronic file)
the government's (i.e. ITSD) requirements with respect to web publishing
useful references for reporting by the web, e.g. Association of Chartered
Certified Accounts (ACCA)'s guidebook on web reporting
Current government requirement - by end of each calendar year a report for the previous calendar year
should be published, e.g. by end of 2003 a report reporting on year 2002 should have been published
Best practice - to publish a report within the first quarter of the next reporting year so that the
targets are meaningful in timing, e.g. by first quarter 2003 publish year 2002 report including year 2003
targets
First, satisfy the distribution requirements of the ETWB Circular Memorandum No. 1/2007. An updated
distribution list is provided in this website
Identify additional interested parties and concerned stakeholders (especially in light of environmental
issues and expectations) and generate a distribution list with confirmed contact information (e.g. names,
emails, addresses, telephones, etc.)
Consider the best method of distribution (e.g. papercopy or email of electronic file or web posting
followed by an email notice); uploading to the internet has become a very popular method but it is essential
to ensure that the web report is fully accessible and readable based on any technicalor IT constraints.
For distribution of papercopies, determine the number of copies each target audience group will need
Distribute in accordance with the generated distribution list
Provide convenient feedback mechanism, e.g. feedback form attached to papercopy for faxing
Invite comments and include complete feedback pathway contact information, e.g. a name/post with contact
information, web feedback mechanism
Follow-up phone calls to specific target audience groups identified that may potentially provide
feedback
Include commitment to address and acknowledge feedback in the next report so that readers know their
feedback will be considered and it is worth their while to provide feedback
Strike a reasonable balance between both needs, e.g. a medium sized report meeting all of the ETWB
requirements and a number of more important and relevant EPD Guidebook and Benchmark Tool requirements.
Hold targeted feedback meetings/workshops with key stakeholders
EPRs should be verified because verification ensures the credibility of the EPR and provides assurance of
the report contents to readers
Reporting organizations are encouraged to make use of the AA1000 Assurance Standard (i.e. a standard
developed by AccountAbility that provides guidance on implementing a credible, systematic verification
process) to assess, plan, describe and oversee the implementation of the verification process for their
EPRs
Verification must be done by an independent, third party, e.g. professional consultant that has not been
involved in the report preparation process, to maintain the integrity of the exercise and the verification
statement
Following the verification process, a verification statement (or validation statement or assurance
statement) is produced. This statement should be included at the end of the EPR to demonstrate that the
report is credible and accurate
First identify a suitable report(s) produced
by a comparable department(s)/bureau(x)/organization(s), whether
local or overseas
Secondly identify a framework of comparison
(i.e. a benchmarking framework), e.g. EPD's A guide to Environmental
Reporting for Controlling Officers and A Benchmark for
Environmental Performance Reports, or international reporting
guidelines such as GRI, ACCA
Evaluate the quality of your report and
the others' reports with respect to each requirement as specified
in your chosen benchmarking framework
Compare the evaluation results
Identify achievements and shortfalls
Produce recommendations and/or areas
of improvement for next report
In 2001 the HKSARG
Sustainable Development Unit was established to support the
government's sustainability initiatives, including the promotion of
sustainable development and the sustainability assessment of major
government policies and projects. In 2003, the Council for Sustainable Development was established by
the Chief Executive to advise the Government on raising the awareness
of and engaging the community in the promotion of sustainable development
and on the development of a sustainable development strategy for Hong
Kong that will integrate economic, social and environmental perspectives.
Consult guidance on environmental, health and safety (EHS), social and sustainability reporting, e.g.
ACCA guidance, GRI and CERES guidelines, and sustainability reports prepared by other organizations
Review your responsibilities and operations to identify the economic, social and environmental issues
that are relevant to your department/bureau
Conduct a gap analysis to identify how your department/bureau is addressing relevant economic, social and
environmental issues against international benchmarks and guidelines
Identify performance areas that the department/bureau can begin to address related to health and safety,
social and economic issues, as well as integrated or cross-cutting sustainability issues
Develop and determine a strategy for issue performance and data collection
To further sustainability, produce an integrated report such as Environmental and Social Report or
Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Report or a Sustainability Report
To address sustainability, produce a sustainability report covering and relating economic, environmental
and social issues
Home
