Now a growing number of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are joining the trend to gain a positive market differentiation and stronger competitive edge.

Companies are strengthening the strategic capacity of their in-house environmental outfit, and this is generating demand for environmental professionals with relevant qualifications.

The number of companies seeking better environmental management has been increasing rapidly according to the Business Environment Council (BEC), a leading private sector alliance that promotes environmentally responsible business practices in Hong Kong.

'Not every organisation is doing this in a systematic manner, but environmental management is definitely moving from the leading corporations to become a much more mainstream issue for Hong Kong companies,' said Andrew Thomson, the council's chief executive.

He said sound environmental management should permeate all levels of business operation and, in terms of production and marketing, increased international regulation and consumer awareness were putting pressure on suppliers to ensure standard compliance.

'There is also a business incentive, considering that major investors such as financial institutions and investment houses now look at not just reporting transparency and corporate governance, but also corporate social responsibility and environmental performance when they assess a company's investment value,' Dr Thomson said.

'While it was quite common for medium to large companies to outsource [their environmental operations], many have the operations in-house nowadays. But they still commission external consultants when they need to do environmental audits or more complicated projects,' he said.

Dr Thomson said this was increasing the diversity and depth of the expertise required, and there was a rise in demand for people trained in different environmental disciplines. Such demand was also coming from Macau.

Victor Kwong Chiu-ling, corporate health, safety and environment manager for Towngas, said the rising environmental standards of major corporations were putting pressure on business associates and contractors to upgrade their standards. This was creating demand for qualified personnel.

Mr Kwong said with the shift towards holistic management, the demand for 'generalist' managers would increase, unlike before when this field was restricted to technical specialists.

'The major companies now talk about sustainability and social responsibility which go beyond the scope of environmental protection in its traditional sense,' Mr Kwong said.

'Environmental managers have to be versatile and perceptive enough to see issues from all-round perspectives, especially internal integration of environmental and other business objectives and operations, community needs and public expectations.

'They also need good soft skills to communicate and present themselves well. Technical knowledge is becoming less important than these attributes.'

Recruiting qualified environmental managers is not easy even for major corporations.

To meet ongoing needs, Towngas grooms its own environmental management trainees and offers internships to postgraduate students in this discipline.

Local training is offered at tertiary institutions such as Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the Institute of Vocational Education (IVE), which run various environmental management courses from diploma to postgraduate level.

A spokesman from PolyU said relevant programmes were under review to meet market demand. The university has merged its separate programmes in environmental engineering and environmental management into an environmental management and engineering course to broaden the strengths of graduates in this field.

And at IVE, the institute has undertaken an unprecedented project to include environmental management education across nine disciplines for the 2008/2009 academic year.

Under the 'curriculum greening' project, all IVE students learnt about environmental management concepts relevant to their discipline as part of their professional training, said Albert Li Sau-sang, senior project officer of the environmental studies strategic planning project office at the Vocational Training Council.

'The project is a significant step towards the broad-based nurturing of a green workforce in Hong Kong which already lags behind many western countries in the greening of professional education,' Mr Li said.

'Our design students will conceptualise sustainable designs from a 'cradle to cradle' perspective, the second 'cradle' being how to rejuvenate a spent product back into use through recycling.

'This is more progressive than the 'cradle to grave' concept that prevails at present, and our graduates will become more competitive against their overseas counterparts,' Mr Li said.

All the initiatives launched by businesses and programmes introduced to students are highly market driven.

'Hong Kong businesses large and small all want to have good environmental management these days because this is the only way to go, given the global trend towards green consumerism. This is like a sink or swim issue and nobody can afford to fall behind,' Mr Li said.

Key players

Sustainability/Environmental director

Sustainability/Environmental manager

Environmental engineer

Environmental technician

Environmental auditor

Jargon

ISO 14000 / OHSAS 18000 certification Internationally recognised and widely adopted environmental, health and safety management standards for various industries

Production waste Waste generated by product manufacturing such as waste water and residual materials

Post-consumption waste Waste generated by consumption of products such as packages, cans and bottles

Green consumerism A market trend where consumers show preference for eco-friendly products