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The Beginner's Trail

This Beginner's Trail provides an overview of essential report elements together with useful FAQs and Tips for officers preparing an Environmental Performance Report for their Department or Bureau. This is a practical guide especially tailored for beginners in reporting.

Must-know:
	Government Requirements
	1998 Policy Objectives ETWB Circular Memorandum No. 1/2007
	Step-by-Step Guide to Environmental Reporting
	Section 1 "Producing an EPR - 4 Key Steps" - What steps should I follow in preparing an EPR? Section 2 "Essential Elements of an EPR" - What are the essential elements of the EPR?
Useful Materials:
	Environmental Reporting FAQs
	Report Contents	What must I include in our department/bureau's environmental report? (FAQs Q1)
	Environmental Policy	What should I consider when establishing and updating the environmental policy? (FAQs Q2)
	Issue Selection	What is the best approach to select the issues for inclusion in the EPR? (FAQs Q3)
	Reporting Performance	How should I meaningfully report environmental performance? Is describing the specific environmental initiatives and programmes that are undertaken in the reporting year enough? (FAQs Q5)
	Performance Indicators	What indicators would be suitable for my department/bureau to use to measure and report environmental performance? (FAQs Q6)
	Reporting Timeframe	How to determine what reporting timeframe to adopt? Should I produce the report based on the calendar year, the government financial year, or the fiscal year? (FAQs Q7)
	Report Template	Is there an available environmental report template that I could readily adopt? (FAQs Q10)
	Report Medium	What medium should our department/bureau use for reporting? Paper or electronic or web? (FAQs Q12)
	Report Issuance	When should our department/bureaux publish its report? (FAQs Q13)
	Report Distribution	To whom should I distribute the report? How should this be done and how to determine the number of copies needed? (FAQs Q14)
	Others' Reports	Where could I find reports completed by other government departments?(FAQs Q17)
	The following tips from our "10 Tips for Successful EPRs" are relevant to beginners:
	Tip #1 - Plan ahead and start by scoping the report. Tip #2 - Remember the importance of report coherence. Tip #4 - Work closely with the Green Manager and/or Green Executives. Tip #6 - Review existing environmental data and information to facilitate data collection and reporting. Tip #8 - Learn from EPRs produced by comparable organizations, either local or overseas.
	EPD's Guide - "A Guide to Environmental Reporting for Controlling Officers"
	Useful Examples
	A Collection of Local and Overseas Environmental Reports Environmental Targets and Milestones Analysis of Environmental Performance (Indicators)
	Glossary of Terms
Other Sources:
	Useful Resources Documents, Reference Materials and Links
If you still have questions on Environmental Reporting or the Beginner's Trail, please contact EPD by email: enquiry@epd.gov.hk (c/o Regulatory Support Section); or tel. 2838 3111 (press 5 after language selection) or fax: 2114 0139.
FAQs | Step-by-Step Guide to Environmental Reporting | The Beginner's Trail | About this Cyber Helpdesk | 10 Tips for Successful Environmental Performance Reports | Best Practices to Enhance Environmental Performance | Self-Scoring Template - A Benchmark for Environmental Performance Report | Useful Resource Documents Reference Materials and Links |