Everbright Environment Charitable Foundation
To further improve the efficiency of our community initiatives, we successfully set up Everbright Environment Charitable Foundation Company Limited in Hong Kong in August 2013. The foundation company manages the Everbright Environment Charitable Foundation (formerly known as "Everbright International Environmental Protection Charitable Foundation") and coordinates all our charitable projects in environmental protection education, energy-saving, carbon reduction, ecological conservation, community caring, etc.
The foundation supported WWF-HK's Earth Hour, a large environmental protection initiative, for seven consecutive years since 2014, calling for people to change their lifestyle and give up the unnecessary luxuries to help sustain the earth. In 2021, WWF-HK's Solar Dome facility, which was constructed under support of the foundation, commenced operation. Located at the Island House in Yuen Chau Tsai, Taipo, Hong Kong, the Solar Dome will serve as a sustainability educational facility for students and other social groups in Hong Kong, to promote concepts and knowledge relating to renewable energy, sustainable development and ecological conservation.
In 2019, the foundation partnered with UNICEF Hong Kong to roll out the charitable outdoor parent-child carnival "Adventure in the Woods" in Hong Kong. The event was designed to cultivate children's awareness of ecological and environmental protection and responsibility, with all funds raised donated to UNICEF's maternal and infant health projects in mountainous areas.
From 2016 to 2019, the foundation supported Heifer International Hong Kong branch's "Read to feed" fund raising program (2016-2017, 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years). Through this program, we intended to develop reading habits among Hong Kong students, deepen their understanding on poverty, environmental protection issues, and develop a sense of empathy. On the other hand, we offered financial support to the poor farmers in mainland China, in order to improve their living standards. We also launched a series of environmental education workshops at primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong from 2018 to 2019, and our employees led groups of students from primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong to visit our Boluo Waste-to-energy Project in Guangdong Province. The project tours gave the students opportunities to understand the harmless treatment, reduction and reuse of household waste.
In 2015, Everbright Environment Environmental Protection Charitable Foundation was the title sponsor for Yan Oi Tong Green City Exploration Tour 2015 – Singapore. The event provided the opportunity for 23 environmental protection students from Hong Kong to visit Singapore, entitled the "Greenest Asian City", and learn from university professors and conservation specialists about how they can contribute towards building a greener city. The students learned about different aspects of the green city including water resources management, energy conservation, urban greening, biodiversity and construction waste recycling. They also worked together to assess the feasibility of implementing such initiatives in Hong Kong. Following the study tour, the foundation also sponsored the outstanding students from the group to visit Everbright Environment's Nanjing Waste-to-energy Project to study the waste-to-energy process and the environmental protection measures adopted in China.
Everbright Environmental Protection Charitable Foundation
Our project company in Suzhou City, in collaboration with Suzhou Environmental & Municipal Administration Bureau and Suzhou Charity Federation, established Everbright Environmental Protection Charitable Foundation in June 2013. Every year, the project company donates RMB1.5 million to the foundation and the funds are used to help local sanitation workers and their families who are faced with difficulties and need financial and emotional support. As at the end of 2020, an accumulated number of 1,778 people had received over RMB8.5 million granted by the foundation.
Anhui Dangshan No.5 High School (formerly known as "Everbright Environment True Love School")
Giving back to the society has always been our core value. Bearing this in mind, we donated RMB6 million, computers and textbooks to a local school renovation project in 2010, when we carried out preparation work for our Dangshan Biomass Power Generation Project in Anhui Province. The school was then named "Everbright Environment True Love School" and was officially launched in September 2011. The school has been renamed as Anhui Dangshan No.5 High School. Equipped with the state-of-art facilities, comprehensive teaching equipment, playground, music and dancing rooms, the school could provide students with a pleasant learning environment. Meanwhile, we have set up the True Love Fund to provide the students with financial support and scholarship. As at the end of 2020, the school had accumulatively offered education opportunities for 5,760 students.
We encourage our employees to be acting teachers at the school, and many of them are keen to get involved. Since the commencement of the school, we have sent several groups of volunteers as acting teachers with the primary responsibilities to assist in teaching English, fine art and music at the school. In addition, our project company in Dangshan has donated to the school for purchasing new classroom equipment and sports goods. In recent years, we organised several summer camp activities, which invited the school students and teachers to visit our environmental protection projects, helping them to understand relevant environmental protection processes and the importance of environmental protection.
