To echo the World Environment Day (5 June) and promote green shopping practices, the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) has established the Hong Kong Green Shop Alliance. A Launching Ceremony cum Exhibition was held at the Pacific Place in Admiralty on June 1 and officiated by Mr Cheung Hau-wai, Chairman of the HKGBC, together with Mr Eric Ma, Under Secretary for Development, Government of the HKSAR and Dr Raymond Yau, General Manager, Sustainable Development of Swire Properties, the first shopping mall owner supporting the alliance. 
     Mr Cheung Hau-wai, Chairman of the HKGBC said, “Green building development is an important step to lessen the impact of climate change to human society. The establishment of the alliance aims at encouraging owners, facility managers and tenants of shopping malls and shops to join forces to adopt green measures in their daily operations through the Six Green Areas, which include better use of energy, better use of water, municipal solid waste reduction, material reuse and recycling, green procurement and social green behaviour.” He added that those pledging to join the alliance would adopt green measures in hopes of saving operation resources through efficient use of energy and water as well as creating a comfortable and green shopping environment for the shoppers.
     Mr Eric Ma, Under Secretary for Development, Government of the HKSAR said, “Development Bureau has full support to the green building development and adopted various green building elements in the newly-built government buildings, for instance, adopting an open design, enhancing natural lighting and ventilation, and encouraging reuse and recycling of materials and equipment. As for building services installations, we install high-efficiency lighting and solar panels for electricity and hot water supply to reduce the energy use.” He added that Development Bureau has collaborated with Environment Bureau and Transport and Housing Bureau and released “Energy Saving Plan for Hong Kong's Built Environment 2015~2025+” in May 2015 and set Hong Kong a new target of reducing energy intensity by 40% by 2025. He also said that more shopping malls will take part in the Hong Kong Green Shop Alliance in the future with the efforts of HKGBC and hoped different sectors can cooperate to promote sustainable development in Hong Kong.
     Dr Raymond Yau, General Manager, Sustainable Development of Swire Properties said, “In this first phase of the campaign, we are delighted to have 47 of our retail tenants pledge to join the alliance. Our participating tenants encompass a range of industries, including fashion, F&B, supermarkets and consumer products. The information and feedback we’ve collected from our tenants form a very good basis for our sustainable initiatives in our malls, and moving forward, we will continue to collaborate with them to implement environmental measures or organise events tailored to their needs.”