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Letter to the Editor of SCMP dated 17 November 2006 - Response to an article entitled "Green purchasing policies kept from advisors"
The article "Green purchasing policies kept from advisors" (November 14) suggested that the Advisory Council on the Environment (ACE) has been kept in the dark about the details of green procurement policies departments are following to protect the environment.
This is not true and might have been caused by a misunderstanding of the purpose of the briefing done by the Government Logistics Department on November 13 for the ACE. As I explained at the press briefing held immediately after the ACE meeting, the department (as the procuring arm of the Government) sought to update Members on what the department had been doing in the green purchasing of general commodities. Given the purpose of the briefing, the discussion at the ACE meeting focused on this aspect rather than on what individual departments were doing.
Members of the ACE fully understand the importance of promoting green procurement within the Government and in society, and hence expect to be briefed in the future on other important aspects of green procurement. I understand the Environmental Protection Department is more than happy to make the necessary arrangements.
Professor Lam Kin-che
Chairman
Advisory Council on the Environment
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