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A Guide to Corporate Environmental Performance Reporting - Background and Context

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has recognized that environmental performance reporting is essential for good corporate governance. To set an example, the entire government has committed to produce annual Environmental Performance Reports since 2000. It is a logical "next step" to share this experience and promote the practice within the private sector.

This Guide to Corporate Environmental Performance Reporting, produced by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), aims to help private organizations prepare their environmental performance reports. The Guide gives an overview of the key steps involved in the production of an environmental performance report, and suggests some basic principles and possible options to be considered under each of these key steps. It serves to bring together selected examples, good practices and checklists for its users to plan and prepare their reports to suit circumstances that befit their organizations. Suggestions provided in this guide are, however, by no means exhaustive.

It should also be emphasized that there is no intention to impose unnecessary uniformity on the preparation and presentation of environmental performance reports. Since each organization has its own characteristics, it is essential that the users of this guide assess the applicability of the suggestions in this guide to their organizations.

As corporate environmental performance reporting is a developing field, this guide will be revised from time to time to reflect new practices and standards.