A journey to define Green Values
Winners of the Saigon Times Top 40 Awards - Green Values 2009 named
By Yen Dung - The Saigon Times Daily
The selection for the Saigon Times Top 40 Awards – Green Values 2009 is longer than expected as the Awards this year seek to honor foreign-invested enterprises nationwide, instead of those in HCM City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau as previously.
>> See the list of the winners of the Saigon Times Top 40 Awards - Green Values 2009
Launched in October last year, the seventh Saigon Times Top 40 Awards mark a new development stage. The “Green Values” theme chosen for the Awards this year by the organizing committee, comprising the two English-language publications of the Saigon Times Group, The Saigon Times Weekly and The Saigon Times Daily, has come out of the general consensus on the urgent needs for responsible actions in the corporate sector to make the environment green.
Widening the non-profit Awards’ scale is aimed to make the Saigon Times Top 40 a prestigious Award among the foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in Vietnam. This will boost competitiveness among candidates through carrying out environmental protection ideas effectively.
The Awards 2009 have new criteria. Along with the usual criteria in the past six years that enterprises must follow well their investment commitments and have a high prestige in the market, the organizers stress the environment criterion as this has most recently been a pressing issue.
Apart from popularizing the Awards in all publications of the Saigon Times Group, the organizers have called for the participation of FIEs that have interest in environment and actively sought green ideas that have been applied effectively by the enterprises during their business.
The organizers have worked with the departments of planning and investment as well as natural resources and environment of some cities/provinces that are home to a lot of FIEs like HCM City, Hanoi, Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, Danang, Binh Duong, Tra Vinh, Can Tho, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau to select those eligible for the Awards. Over 1,000 FIES were introduced to join the Awards, and more than 100 have registered.
The inspection work started at local agencies. The first was to identify nominees for the Awards. When sending the registration forms to the organizers by post, e-mail or fax, nominees must introduce their environmental protection ideas that have been applied well in their specific business and environmental activities they have joined.
Several FIEs’ green ideas were sent to the organizers, showing their motivation and efforts despite the difficult conditions of Vietnam’s economy last year caused by the global financial crisis. The highlight is that many nominees focus on energy saving. This possibly comes from their need to reduce manufacturing and business expenditures in difficult times. They have also connected the energy saving with environmental protection.
For instance, Ben Thanh-RSC has installed a solar water heating system to cut electricity consumption at Norfolk Mansion in downtown HCM City. Wilmar Argo Vietnam in Can Tho City has intalled a boiler system using husk as fuel instead of oil, aiming to limit carbon dioxide emissions and cut cost. At Holcim Vietnam cement plant in Hon Chong, Kien Giang Province, the company collects the heat in the production process to run other equipments. The use of waste materials as an energy to replace fossil fuels helps it save fuel consumption by 13%.
Also to protect the environment and save energy, Phu My 3 BOT Power in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province has installed an automatic gas leakage alert system. Caravelle Hotel in HCM City has run the Green Initiatives program since 2008 with the aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Palm Golf Song Be in Binh Duong Province has so far used dry leaves and water-ferns to fertilize plants and grass around the golf course instead of using chemicals.
Besides focusing on energy saving solutions that not only reduce manufacturing expenditures but also contribute to environmental protection, participants of the Awards 2009 aim to make eco-friendly products. Mercedes-Benz Vietnam, Ericsson Vietnam, TCL Vietnam and Big C are some of them.
Many FIEs are interested in raising environmental protection awareness among employees, seeing this as a guideline in their sustainable development. HSBC Vietnam often organizes the “Green Week” program and supports environmental protection ideas suggested by its staff. ANZ Vietnam often organizes training courses on the environment and society for its employees. Sumidenso Vietnam Co. in Hai Duong Province regulates that all new employees must join an environment course before working at the company. At its training courses, Daiwa Vietnam in Danang City adds lessons about principles of workshop hygiene and environmental protection.
In the past four months, the Daily and the Weekly have introduced some eminent green ideas from the nominees. However, many other green ideas of enterprises applied in manufacturing and business could not be featured in the two publications due to time and space limits. By this or that way, these ideas create the “green values” for each enterprise, contributing to the economic and social development, toward sustainable development through environmental protection and community development initiatives.
After the seven-year journey, the organizers hope to continue to acknowledge and honor contributions by FIEs to Vietnam’s socio-economic development.