As caring and responsible corporate citizens, the Group and its subsidiaries have been actively involved in a variety of charitable and community initiatives. Below is a quick recap of some of the Group’s CSR efforts in 2008.

Serving the Community
Art and Culture
Environmental Protection
Staff Development

Serving the Community

Apart from its own initiatives, the Group has through financial and other support actively participated in a wide array of philanthropic and community projects led by cherished non-profit-making organisations to help sustain their growth and uphold the values they promote. Among others, complimentary event venue in shopping malls and piers, free media exposure and publicity support, and sponsorship of communication services are just a few year-round activities rendered by the Group’s subsidiaries in support of worthy community causes.

Sichuan Earthquake
Immediately following the devastating Sichuan Earthquake in May 2008, the Group and its subsidiaries initiated and rendered support to a myriad of fundraising and related activities with an aim to provide timely relief to survivors of the disaster. Participating Group members included Harbour City, Hong Kong Tramways, i-CABLE, Marco Polo Hotels, Modern Terminals, Plaza Hollywood, Times Square, The “Star” Ferry, Wharf T&T and more. Other than Chairman’s personal
donation of his 2007 director’s bonus in Wheelock and Company Limited, corporate and staff donations, a spate of activities in support of relief efforts was staged by our subsidiaries in their own areas of expertise from charity sale activities in shopping malls, sponsorship of broadband to participating in a territory-wide fund-raising variety show. i-CABLE news team members, meanwhile, reached out to the community, making use of their knowledge, experience and connections to provide concrete help. Frontline team members inspired students and other members of the public upon their return from Sichuan as speakers at numerous speaking engagements to help galvanise their supports for the relief works.

Caring Company
A number of business units under Wharf were awarded the “Caring Company” logo 2008/2009 by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service in recognition of their demonstration of good corporate citizenship, namely Harriman Management Services, Harriman Property Management, Hong Kong Tramways, i-CABLE, LCX, Modern Terminals, Pacific Club, The “Star” Ferry and Wharf T&T. Among these awardees, The “Star” Ferry was recognised with the “5 Years Plus Logo” whilst Harriman Management Services received the “5 Consecutive Years Logo” in appreciation of their sustainable commitment.

Youth Development
The youth are our future. To build a better tomorrow, the Group and its subsidiaries have been supporting a wide spectrum of youth development programmes. Summer placement opportunities are available to local tertiary institution students in various operating units and departments of our Group. Moreover, on top of offering management trainee programmes and participating in internship programmes, our hotels have engaged in a mentorship programme with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Under the programme, hotel executives will act as advisors, coaches and counselors to the mentees by sharing work and life experiences with them. The “Star” Ferry continued its engagement with the Hong Kong Young Ambassador Scheme jointly organised by the Tourism Commission and The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups whereby training will be provided to young ambassadors to facilitate their stationing at the “Star” Ferry’s Central and Tsim Sha Tsui Piers to introduce Hong Kong to visitors.

Apart from motivating community involvement among our staff, the Group also helps spread the message to the wider public. As the venues for a great number of fundraising and charitable activities, our shopping malls always encourage their shoppers to support worthy community causes. Harbour City, for instance, has been an ardent supporter of Hong Kong Blood Cancer Foundation and helped raise more than HK$1.74 million during 2008 to support blood cancer patients. Other beneficiaries during 2008 included End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation, Joyful (Mental Health) Foundation, Caring for Children Foundation and more. Meanwhile, The “Star” Ferry remains the only public transport operator in Hong Kong offering complimentary rides to senior citizens aged 65 or above with a senior citizen card. Fare concessions are also offered to ferry passengers with disabilities. Over to the island side, elderly holding a senior citizen card are also eligible for concessionary fare for tram rides.

Art and Culture

Art and culture enrich life. The Group sees art and cultural experience as an essential part of a quality lifestyle and hence is dedicated to help promote art and culture with an aim to bring that to a wider audience.

Art Exhibitions
Harbour City has devoted a 1,000-square-foot prime retail space on Level 2 of Ocean Centre for the establishment of a unique art gallery – the Gallery by the Harbour since 2007. Commanding unrivalled views of the Victoria Harbour, this admission-free gallery showcases to shoppers works by artists from around the world. From its inception till end of 2008, 20 art exhibitions have been held, bringing 68 artists’ collections to the people of Hong Kong. Other than art exhibitions, art talks were given to Fine Art students from local tertiary institutions on European antique painting, Chilean painting, Japanese gold-plated artwork and Japanese mixed-media painting, enabling them a wider exposure on various art origins, forms and styles.

Harbour City’s Gallery by the Harbour showcases works by artists from around the globe

Times Square offers a folksy rendezvous for art appreciation for the public

Similarly, Times Square spares no efforts in bringing world-class art and cultural activities to the people of Hong Kong. Following the hugely successful art exhibitions of world-renowned art masters Huang Yong Yu and Ju Ming in previous years, six major art exhibitions were presented in 2008. Through this series of exhibitions staged in the mall, works of contemporary Chinese artists Carrie Chau, Huang Chihyang, Hung Tunglu, Jimmy Liao, Sui Jianguo and Yue Minjun were presented to the public in a lively environment.

Fostering Art
In support of art and music performance in Hong Kong, the Group has been sponsoring Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s Club Maestro since 2003 as a Platinum member. During 2008, other forms of sponsorships were also provided by the Group’s members to various art groups from complimentary hotel accommodation for performance groups, harbour tour trip for a visiting youth orchestra to media and publicity support to art events.

Green Policy and Practice
The Group has established environmental policy and practice throughout its diversified operations. Green construction principles are in place, covering aspects right from design, development, maintenance to property management. Regular monitor and review of the environmental protection performance is conducted. Harbour City Gateway II, for instance, has added green elements into its air-conditioning system by replacing titanium condenser tubes for chillers with copper tubes. A total of 2.24 million kWH or HK$1.84 million was saved from this campaign last year. As a Carbon Audit • Green Partner by signing the Carbon Reduction Charter, our property management subsidiaries have pledged to carry out activities to support the reduction of greenhouse gas emission. For Modern Terminals, among others, with the adoption of a cleaner fuel “Ultra-Low Sulphur Diesel” for all container handling equipment, yard vehicles and contractor tractors in early 2008, sulphur dioxide emission has been reduced by 99%. Other operating units, including Marco Polo Hotels and others, have also actively participated in a wide range of energy conservation, anti-pollution, recycling (of used toner/inkjet cartridges, fluorescent lamp, paper, glass, aluminium cans, PET bottle and more) initiatives.

Partnering with Green Groups
The Group teams up with green advocates to more effectively promote environmental conservation. Wharf is a long-time supporter of World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong (“WWFHK”). The Group has been a WWFHK corporate member since 2001 and is currently a Double Diamond member. Additionally, Modern Terminals, a subsidiary of the Group, also supports WWFHK as a Silver member. During 2008, the Group also supported programmes organised by other green groups including Friends of the Earth’s “Dim It” campaign in June 2008. External lights of the Groups’ shopping malls Harbour City, Times Square and Plaza Hollywood were switched off during a designated period of time to demonstrate our commitment to green awareness.

Promoting Green Awareness
The Group does not only think green for itself, it also helps promote environmental awareness to the public. During 2008, our shopping malls sponsored venue for various promotional activities held by green organisations or the government to help spread the eco messages. Further, The “Star” Ferry is a co-organiser of One Tonne Challenge Carnival, which is held regularly at its Central Pier with an aim to call upon Hong Kong people to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, Modern Terminals’ volunteers participated in the Hong Kong Reef Check 2008 organised by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department to help promote sustainable management of coral reefs.

Green Recognitions
Green efforts by the Group’s various operating units are duly recognised. Honours, certificates of appreciation and more were received from Environmental Protection Department, Water Supplies Department, Environmental Campaign Committee, Hong Kong Quality Assurance Association and more by Group members during 2008 in recognition of their zealous engagement in maintaining high standards of indoor air quality, water quality, hygiene control, source separation of waste and waste reduction.

Staff Development

Human resources are the most valuable asset of the Group. Training and development opportunities are provided to upgrade skill sets of staff members for achieving operational excellence. Recreational and sports activities are organised for our staff to help ensure worklife balance.

Staff Training
During 2008, the Group and its members provided some 200 in-house training programmes to more than 6,700 staff members. A comprehensive array of training programmes are available which includes foreign language learning, Putonghua training, stress management, negotiation skills, leadership training, first aid, team building and communications, problem-solving and decision-making workshops, health talks and more. Orientation programme and on-the-job training are offered to new staff to assist them to adapt to new job and work environment. Continuing education is encouraged. During 2008, more than 900 staff received education or training subsidies for taking external courses to upgrade their work skills.

Intra-Group Communications
To keep staff from various business sectors updated of the latest development within the Group, a bilingual staff bulletin The Link is published regularly. Featured story, business updates, community involvements and staff activity snapshots from various operating units plus personality interviews are featured.

Balanced Life
To ensure the health and wellness of the staff, a wide range of interest classes, sports and recreational activities were organised for the staff and their families during 2008. These included visits to outlying island, squash and bowling competitions, yoga classes, cooking classes and more.

Recreational activities help staff achieve work-life balance

As at 31 December 2008, the Group has approximately 12,900 employees.