ESG Investing: What is GGB Doing for Hong Kong

Nowadays, as environmental problems like extreme weather, global warming, and species extinction have become increasingly serious, global ecology is deteriorating rapidly. The enterprises are now aware of the risks of pollution cause once their dark secrets are exposed, there will be a huge impact on their reputation and economic losses cannot be estimated. Also, with the Net Zero commitments from governments around the world, more and more companies are taking actions to protect the earth and mitigate climate change.

In the meantime, all sorts of problems in the world are worsening the human living environment. The United Nations proposes that while pursuing interests, enterprises should also try their best to benefit society. In addition, the outbreak of the epidemic has further prompted investors to reconsider how to identify Sustainable companies with stable earnings. Therefore, ESG has attracted everyone’s attention and has become an increasingly important part of the investment process.

Under the circumstances, Give Gift Boutique also takes ESG as a decision-making criterion and supports Hong Kong’s environmental protection and public welfare welfare undertakings by selecting products made of eco-friendly materials with biodegradable packaging. At the same time, GGB cooperates with many social enterprises and public welfare organizations to help people in need, undertaking social responsibility.

What is ESG?

ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance.

- Environmental

Environmental refers to an organization’s environmental impacts, if it is concerned about the earth and tries to improve the environment, from turning off light and faucet when it is not needed, to greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, overall policy against climate risks, making great efforts for biodiversity, energy efficiency, water scarcity and so on.

- Social

Social refers to a company’s relationship with its employees, stakeholders, clients, customers, and society, such as customer satisfaction, employee engagement, community relations, and human rights.

- Governance

Governance refers to a company’s leadership and management, including board composition, executive compensation, bribery and corruption, risk management, and so on.

Related: 13 Biggest Environmental Problems Of 2022

ESG and Investment Value

In recent years, with the increasing impact of the environment on the economy, ESG analysis has become an important part of the investment process. Investment professionals used to judge the investment value of companies by financial statements and now they are considering ESG as part of their financial analysis to gain a fuller understanding of the companies and identify material risks and growth opportunities, such as organizations’ efforts to mitigate climate change and other environmental disasters, employee job satisfaction, and board diversity and structure.

For investors, ESG is a growing priority as ESG correlate strongly with various performance. Stock prices of companies with high ESG rankings tend to be less volatile because they are more likely to be rich in intangible assets like reputation. An organization’s performance against ESG issues helps stakeholders make key decisions, since companies are facing rising complexities if they are not adequately managing their ESG. Also, good corporate behavior means better business results. A company’s ESG performance requires exemplary leadership, which is a competitive strength.

GGB and ESG

Give Gift Boutique takes ESG as a strategy, contributes to the earth's ecology with practical actions, and cooperates with major social enterprises and public welfare institutions to promote an equal and inclusive society. Since 2020, GGB has been committed to finding eco-friendly packaging materials, regardless of the costs. After repeated attempts, we have finally found a degradable film with high transparency and strength as ordinary packaging films, keeping the gifts safe and delicate without adding any burden on the environment.

1.Eco-Friendly Materials

Since the industrial revolution in 1950, the world has produced more than 9.1 billion tons of plastics, causing serious environmental pollution. To protect our living environment, GGB gives priority to environmentally friendly materials in gift packagings, such as degradable film, eco-friendly kraft paper and recycled paper; on the other hand, GGB selects eco-friendly materials for the gift baskets such as natural vine woven basket and PET recycled material based PU leather hamper.

The BOPP degradation film we choose can be completely oxidized and biodegraded. When the used BOPP degradation film is discarded in a humid and hot environment (such as garbage cans), it will crack and disintegrate with microorganisms and oxygen, and finally be completely biodegraded.

Also, GGB takes environmental protection factors into consideration when selecting products, such as biodegradable, recyclable, or reusable products, to promote an environmentally friendly life.

GGB also provides product OEM services to meet customers' requirements for using specific eco-friendly materials too. From mold manufacturing, quality testing, further improvement, to mass production, we contribute to environmental protection.

As for paper cartons for packaging, GGB also especially uses paper products with FSC certification labels to protect primary forests and advocate the rational use of forest resources. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organization dedicated to the sustainable management of forests. It promotes the maintenance of ecological diversity and protects the natural environment. In the meanwhile, it is the world's most stringent certification of forest management and forest product processing and is also one of the most recognized forest certifications in the world.

2.Social Enterprises

GGB takes the responsibility and supports disadvantaged groups through cooperation with many social enterprises, for example, the NGO, charity organization, sheltered workshop and fair-trade certified companies, etc. They can not only earn income from social enterprises, but also improve their working skills from skill training, gain work experience and realize their self-worth in work.

For example, Angelchild promotes healthy food and helps autistic people find jobs. Groundworks,  a local workshop, is dedicated to promoting the economic development of the community and improving the lives of the residents. Farmfresh330 offers training and employment opportunities for the mentally ill to promote their overall health and help them return to society.

3.Public Welfare

GGB is enthusiastic about public welfare and assists people in need, such as “Doctors Without Borders” and “International Children's Fund” to contribute to society. We also subsidize the "2022-2023 Elderly Health Service", providing the elderly with health lectures, blood tests, blood pressure measurements, eye tests, and so on for their health.2022 ESG Christmas Gift Hampers.

4. High-tech management

GGB applies technology features in the gift baskets as well as the company management. The QR code management system is used for all the gift hampers, the advanced traceable barcode system enables the customers to monitor the status of the products and to improve their shopping experience and build confidence in the vendor. Besides, the unique “photo upload” service helps to have a transparent SOP which is easy for the company to supervise the process and to protect the benefits of the customers and shareholders.

2022 ESG Christmas Gift Hampers

This year, Give Gift Boutique launched the new "2022 ESG Christmas Gift Hampers" with fair trade products, such as chocolate, coffee, jam, etc., committed to improving the livelihood of farmers and workers by giving fair returns to the working class, while promoting environmentally friendly planting modes, and protecting the natural environment. In addition, we also selected various products from social enterprises to provide job opportunities for disadvantaged groups and undertake social responsibilities. Each ESG Christmas gift hamper will be attached with a card introducing the ESG information of the gift to show the gift giver's support for the sustainable development of society, encourage more public-spirited people to take practical actions to care the nature, promote fair trade, and help people and communities in need.