Survey on Current Status and Direction for Green Purchasing in Hong Kong

Background:

The Green Council (GC) is a non-profit making, non-partisan environmental organization founded in Hong Kong in 2000, with the aim of encouraging organizations in the industrial and commercial sectors to include environmental protection in their production and management processes.

Green Purchasing best practices require that companies identify, select, purchase and use products and services with less adverse environmental impact than their alternatives. When selecting products or services, environmental impacts should be considered alongside quality, fitness for purpose and costs. Sponsored by the Environment and Conservation Fund, the GC has been commissioned to determine the current status of private sector green purchasing in Hong Kong. Further, through supplemental research and consideration of comparable green purchasing efforts and accomplishments by local large corporations and in other jurisdictions, a series of recommendations on how to proceed with strengthening and advancing green purchasing will be formulated and provided to appropriate government policy-makers, purchasing officials, and other interested parties.

Please complete and return this short (i.e. nine questions) survey before 30 September 2009. Selected respondents will be contacted and requested to participate in single follow-up interviews between March and July 2009. The results and all information collected from this survey (and the follow-up interviews) will be used only for research purposes and will be kept strictly confidential during and after the study. Upon request, a copy of the published findings and recommendations report can be provided for your reference.

Company Name:
Address:
Sector: Accountancy   Architectural, surveying and planning   Agriculture and fisheries   Commercial   Education   Engineering   Finance   Financial services   Health services   Import and export   Industrial   Information technology   Insurance       Labour   Legal   Medical   Real estate and construction   Social welfare
Sport, performing arts, culture and publication   Textiles and garment   Tourism   Transport   Wholesale and retail
Others:

Number of Employees: Website Address:
Name of Respondent: Job Title:
Tel:Fax: Email:

If selected, are you willing to participate in a follow-up interview?           Yes      No

Q1. Does your company have a Green Purchasing (GP) policy, procedures and/or activities in place?
Yes (Complete this question and go to Q3) No (Go to Q2)

-> Policy: Stand-aloneComponent of a broader policyDrafted
-> Procedures:In practiseDocumentedUnder review
-> Activities:On-goingRecently implementedPlanned

Q2.Under which of the following circumstance(s) would your company consider practising GP?

	Yes	No
(A) Government requirement
(B) Tendering requirements of clients
(C) Top management's commitment
(D) Others

Q3.How do you prioritise [from most important (1) to least important (7)] the following criteria / specifications in evaluating the GP performance?
Energy consumption Waste production Greenhouse gas & pollutant emissions

Toxicity Biodegradability Recyclability Durability

Q4.If your company is practising / will begin practising GP, what consequences do you expect in terms of:

	Increase	No effect	Decrease
(A) Change in expenditures
(B) Change in environmental performance
(C) Change in carbon footprint / CO2 emissions
(D) Change in energy and resource conservation
(E) Number of green alternatives from suppliers
(F) Company's publicity / marketing power / influence
(G) Staff awareness on GP & the related green policy
	Improve	No effect	Deteriorate
(H) Company's public image (e.g. CSR)
(I) Business opportunities with clients
(J) Updating of purchasing criteria / specifications & procedures
(K) Interest in and collection of green market information
(L) Collaborations among departments / divisions

Q5.Which of the following(s) would you consider to be major deterrents to GP implementation?

	Yes	No
(A) Increases in expenditure without significant improvement in environmental performance
(B) Difficulty in integrating GP policy into the company's existing policy
(C) Insufficient in-house knowledge for identification of 'green' products / services
(D) Inadequate market supply of green products / services for comparison and selection
(E) Inadequate guidance and or training on GP implementation
(F) Insufficient internal corporate incentive (in terms of financial allocation and formal and sustained commitment from top management)
(G) Difficult socio-economic conditions at a local, regional, national and international level

Q6.Which of the following has lead / could lead to your company practising GP?

	Yes	No
(A) Efforts / initiatives taken by other progressive Hong Kong companies (within or outside your sector)
(B) Efforts / initiatives taken by affiliated companies/divisions within your corporate organisation
(C) Efforts / initiatives taken / expected to be taken by direct competitor(s)
(D) International trends and efforts in general

Q7.Do you believe that GP will become a significant issue of consideration and / or attention within your industry / business sector?

Yes

No, please specify reason(s):

Q8.Regarding GP implementation, what is your view on the following:

	Strongly agree	Agree	Disagree	Strongly disagree
(A) Your company is obligated to encourage your suppliers to offer and provide greener products / services
(B) Your company, through applying pressure unilaterally, can influence suppliers to modify their products' environmental attribute to fit your greener requirements
(C) Pressure exerted collectively by several companies within your sector can influence common suppliers to modify their products in order to satisfy greener requirements
(D) Joining and being active in a GP network (e.g. www.HKGPC.org) can usefully guide and assist in GP implementation

Q9.Which of the following roles should the Government play in promoting, guiding and encourage GP in the private sector (select as many as you wish):

	Yes	No
(A) "Lead by example"
(B) Identification of green commodities
(C) Provision of training courses
(D) Information dissemination
(E) Recognition of achievements
(D) Others

Survey on Current Status and Direction for Green Purchasing in Hong Kong

Background:

END of the survey.

THANK YOU!