President of Asia Insurance Co. Ltd
Bernard Chan is one of the celebrities in town who registered as a Climateer in 2007. We interviewed him again in 2011 to get to know more about his experience in practicing low carbon living in the past three years.
"I think the public has a deeper understanding about carbon emissions than three years ago. Some may not fully understand the concept, but at least this terminology is not a stranger to them anymore. The key is, what actions will they take after knowing their own carbon footprint? Take me as an example. I rarely flew when I was a legislative councilor, and yet now I have to fly here and there for business needs. I try to solve the problem by using video conferencing for internal meetings, but it is hard to apply to meetings that need face-to-face discussion. Nonetheless, at least I will struggle to reduce my carbon emissions now, which I wouldn't have done three years ago."
"I have purchased carbon offsets to offset my carbon emissions as a result of air travel last year. Through WWF's Climateers programme, I was surprised to learn how high my carbon footprint is, especially from air travel. It is hard to avoid business trips and so I chose to spend HK$2,000 on carbon offsetting."
"Air-conditioning is a rare practice at our home. My wife is a Singaporean and she will only turn on the air-conditioner while sleeping. My son has got used to this habit since childhood but it is a bit difficult for me. So I have purchased a big fan as replacement! We haven't hired any maid for the past three years, so theoretically our consumption on water and electricity should be less with fewer people at home. We also eat less meat and more local food or food from nearby areas."
"Our company has undergone a carbon audit, followed by purchasing carbon offsets. What surprised me is that we are the first carbon-neutral insurance company in Asia (excluding Japan)! This reflects the fact that carbon offset is still very new to many companies and corporations. We have spent HK$120,000 on carbon offsets, and the money will be invested in a forestry conservation programme in Sichuan. On an operational level, we are gradually changing our lights to T5 fluorescent lamps. We also have a multi-zoning lighting system that allows staff to turn off the lights in their corresponding zones while away. Half of the lights in our lobby are switched off after 5:30pm to save energy. We are glad to see our staff is gaining the awareness in energy saving; they will switch off lights and computers automatically after work."
"We cannot see substantial changes in electricity consumption yet as our annual report will only be released later this year. However, the carbon footprint per staff was being calculated and it was about 5 tonnes per annum."
"From that, I can see the importance of having a benchmark for Hong Kong. It serves as a reference for the Hong Kong commercial sector to assess how they are doing in carbon reduction, and that's where we get the motivation to improve! Without any comparison, footprint data is just mere numbers. This theory can also apply to Hong Kong households; I will be happy to see an average household electricity consumption figure in our future electricity bill too! Hong Kong people are renowned for being competitive, a figure like that can surely drive us to have a second thought on our carbon footprint and strike to find ways for improvement."
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