Everyone can play a part in protecting the environment. That's why the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has formed partnerships with various industries and sectors to advance environmental awareness and protection in Hong Kong. Here you can learn about what these partnerships are and the activities organised.

The Guide introduces the local environmental infrastructure and legislative requirements relevant to trades and industries, and highlights how environmental measures and management tools can be incorporated into the daily business operation to forge a better and greener business environment. The structure of the Guide is carefully cast to suit a spectrum of local specific SME trades prevailing in Hong Kong.

The Government has introduced accelerated tax deduction for environment-friendly facilities in an effort to encourage the business community to use them. This will allow a 100% profits tax deduction for capital expenditure on environment-friendly machinery and equipment in the year of purchase and to shorten the depreciation period for environment-friendly installations mainly ancillary to buildings from the usual 25 years to 5 years. The proposal has taken effect since the year of assessment 2008-09.

To operate businesses in Hong Kong, you will need to observe the environmental protection ordinances and apply for permits and licences as required. Here you can learn about the legislation that has been enacted to protect the local environment, whether your business needs an environmental permit or licence, and how to apply for permits or licences.

The manufacturing industry is facing many new challenges such as increase in material costs, slowing down in global economy, Mainland's requirements on industrial upgrading and tightening of pollution control as well as the more stringent requirements on their environmental performance imposed by their clients. This partnership programme would assist manufacturing enterprises to embrace these challenges through cleaner production.

Hong Kong applies a number of international environmental protection conventions and has enacted a series of laws and regulations as part of the Government's commitment to environmental protection. Here you can learn more about these areas of concern, and how you can access guidelines or ordinance content that may affect your industry or business.

Given the limited amount of energy reserves available, we need to be constantly aware of the need for energy efficiency and conservation. Here you can learn about aspects of the Government's energy management, efficiency and conservation policy. Knowing more about these initiatives could provide you with ideas about how to be more environmentally friendly in doing business.

Along with the global trend of green business and green living, more and more companies have been attaching great importance to protecting the environment. An effective means to achieve and demonstrate sound environment performance is to adopt an Environmental Management System (EMS) and produce environmental performance reports. You can find useful information in this article.