Leo Paper, Fuji Xerox and HK Electric recognized as Green Champions in Hong Kong Awards for Industries in Environmental Performance

(22 January 2009, Hong Kong) Hon John Tsang Chun-wah, Financial Secretary of the HKSAR, presented Leo Paper Group Hong Kong Limited (Leo Paper) the Grand Award of 2008 Hong Kong Awards for Industries (HKAI) in Environmental Performance at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre last night. Fuji Xerox (Hong Kong) Limited (FXHK) and The Hongkong Electric Co. Ltd. (HK Electric) took the Performance Award. Four companies were honoured with Certificate of Merit: Hong Kong Housing Society (Property Management Division), LTK International Limited, Man Yue International Holdings Limited and Modern Terminals Limited.

These green champions have embraced environmental and social responsibility as their core corporate commitment. Mr Stephen Fong, Chairman of the Business Environment Council (BEC) said,"They are the outstanding models for the business case of sustainable development. They have demonstrated clearly to their peers that the pursuit of environmental excellence should no longer be considered as an excuse for being a cost or barrier to commercial success. Quite the contrary, green can be gold – which leads to massive cost savings, enhancement of staff engagement, productivity, operational performance as well as brand value and market position."

The Grand Award winner Leo Paper impressed the panel of judges by its all-level staff engagement in environmental and social responsibility. In the past few years, Leo Paper had implemented a number of innovative environmental projects, obtaining substantial achievements. For energy saving, Leo Paper has self-developed "Central Vacuum System" to replace the original individual vacuum system for each printing press and paper-folding machine, saving 76% of energy consumption. Leo has also installed "Heat-pump Water Heater" system at its production plant, capturing heat generated by cooling module to heat bath water. The system saves up to180,000 liters of diesel each year. Leo Paper has the vision to be a "Zero Waste Factory". The Green Lean Manufacturing Programme has been implementing on every part of the supply chain to strive for zero spoilage, zero waste and zero emission, with the ultimate goal to achieve zero negative impact to the environment.

FXHK received the Performance Award. FXHK strives to conserve the environment by providing eco-friendly document management solutions with the certification of ISO 14001 Environmental Management System since December 2003 and FSC Chain-of-Custody Certification since December 2007. FXHK is further committed to improving the environmental performance throughout the Product Life Cycle and optimizing the document management process, so as to minimize the Carbon Dioxide emission in the operation of its customers and the company. FXHK’s products have been in compliance with the RoHS Directive since March 2005. Targeting for "zero-landfill", FXHK has been heavily involved in its closed loop system for proactively collecting used products and other consumables for recycling at the Fuji Xerox Eco-Manufacturing plant in Bangkok since September 2005.

HK Electric also received the Performance Award. Commissioning of Unit L9 CCGT at Lamma Power Station (LPS), HK's first LNG fuelled generation unit, began a new chapter in HK’s history of power generation. L9 accounted for 17% of total HK Electric’s output in 2007 and contributed to significant emissions reduction of up to 36%. Also, CO² emissions were reduced by 7.8%. Rainwater and treated effluents of LPS are collected for preparation of limestone slurry in Flue Gas Desulphurization process. 755,000m³ wastewater and rainwater have been reused since the scheme was launched. HK Electric is operating Hong Kong’s first commercial scale wind power plant – Lamma Winds. It has generated more than 2GWh of green electricity, avoiding 1,600MT CO² emissions since commissioning in 2006.

Mr Fong congratulated all the winners and entrants for their commendable efforts. "You are all environmental leaders and ambassadors with forward thinking vision. You have the ability to empower the business community to understand and adopt more sustainable practices. And the challenge in coming years is for all of us to join hand in hand to build on this momentum and weather the financial turmoil."

About Business Environment Council (www.bec.org.hk)

Since 1989, Business Environment Council (BEC) has been at the forefront of Hong Kong's sustainable development, striving to build capacity and facilitate action by partnerships with business, government and community groups. BEC is the longest running independent, non-profit organization in Hong Kong promoting corporate social and environmental responsibility. Set up by business for business in 1989, BEC offers sustainable business solutions covering baseline assessment, advisory, research, training and award programs for companies across all sectors and at any stage of their corporate sustainability journey. Headquartered in its own building in Hong Kong, BEC has additional offices in Beijing and Shenzhen.

About the Award (www.hkindustryaward.org)

Organized by BEC, the Award aims to recognize outstanding achievements in environmental stewardship and promote growing importance and benefits of environmental responsibility to Hong Kong industrial and service sectors. The assessment criteria cover management systems (40%), environmental performance (40%), and legal compliance (20%). Winners are selected by an independent panel of industry, services academic and environmental experts. Initiated by BEC in 1992, the Hong Kong Awards for Industry was merged with the Hong Kong Awards for Services to form the Hong Kong Awards for Industries in 2005.