Learn first hand from Chief Executives of Hong Kong Exchanges, Gammon Construction and Business Environment Council, on their Corporate Sustainability insights to drive long-term business success.
(16 April 2009, Hong Kong) The Business Environment Council (BEC) hosted the CEO Forum – Leadership in Corporate Sustainability today at Exchange Auditorium. CEOs from the BEC, Gammon Construction and the Hong Kong Exchange focused on their efforts and insights of corporate sustainability to drive long-term business success. There is a unanimous consensus that "Corporate sustainability is now higher than ever on many boardroom agendas and is here to stay. It is an emerging business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments”, as Stephen Fong, Chairman of Business Environment Council (BEC) pointed out in his Opening Speech.
"An invaluable part of understanding where your business can improve on its environmental and social performance is through engaging with your local community, your staff and your customers. So, the future sustainability challenge for business leaders is not just environmental issue itself – albeit that is the big one. Leaders need to also understand and respond to the immense societal power shift which is well underway", Fong added.
According to a recent survey, 79% of CEOs agreed that sustainability is vital to the profitability of any company. 71% will sacrifice short-term profitability in exchange for long-term shareholder value when implementing a sustainability program. The shifting global trend towards corporate sustainability is becoming real. CEO Andrew Thomson of BEC highlighted this in his presentation Corporate Sustainability (CS): Brief Facts You Must Know.
"We are moving into a carbon constrained world. It doesn’t matter if you start from the top or bottom. It's a journey of progress, not a journey of absolutes,"said Thomson. Some of BEC's initiatives include removing excess lighting in their office thereby saving HK$10,000 per year and a reduction of almost seven tones of CO2-e emissions per year, and installing motion sensing faucet taps which reduce consumption of drinking and tap water 53 percent, equivalent to saving 1,100 liters of water per day during 2008.
The presentations ranged from general information regarding corporate sustainability, to how it applies to the financial institute and how it has been reflected in the construction industry. Each aspect showed a different way to create a substantial corporate sustainability program in today’s modern business environment.
Hong Kong is increasingly moving towards the direction of corporate sustainability. Paul Chow of the Hong Kong Exchange spoke about corporate sustainability in the financial sector and a universal definition for corporate sustainability.
"It’s the triple bottom line. Financial, environmental and social responsibility," said Chow.
According to Chow, it seemed odd that a future-minded international city like Hong Kong was behind its world counterparts in terms of information disclosure and transparency. While most established financial systems would require listed companies to disclose their company results quarterly, Hong Kong is one of the only three places which do not require quarterly reporting. Only half-yearly reporting is required. The other two places are the UK and Australia. Whereas the rest of the world has realized that doing business in the context of corporate sustainability is the only way for long-term prosperity, Hong Kong is relatively slow to adopt many of these practices.
There are companies, however, taking the lead in their corporate sustainability journey. Thomas Ho, CEO of Gammon Construction shared the Gammon Way of Sustainability. Developers have been taking voluntary green initiatives without government push, with some wanting the most stringent environmental certifications for their buildings. They see this as a major driver to attract long-term customers and keep them satisfied. This is corporate sustainability gradually gaining momentum; people are taking the corporate sustainability path themselves because they see the public’s demand for it.
Trying to predict what the future business climate will be like for the world is not an easy task. Ho does express some fundamental aspects necessary for future enterprises. Two of the five DNAs for the enterprise of the future include the need to "be hungry for change and innovative beyond customer’s expectations," according to Ho.
The last Panel Discussion session moderated by Kenneth Howe, Senior Editor, Business Desk of South China Morning Post was equally insightful and rewarding. Enthusiastic questions sparked open dialogue between the speakers and the floor. One question from the audience concerned the process of beginning corporate sustainability. "You need to first change the mindset [of the people]. Implementation must be CEO-led," said Ho.
This idea of leading by example has already been adopted by Fong, Thomson, Ho and Chow. Their companies are on the forefront of true corporate sustainability and are receiving much attention for it. When considering how to pursue corporate sustainability for a budding business, Ho provides a simple answer.
"Once you make your first sustainability report, you can't stop," said Ho.