Hong Kong has potential to become ESG education hub for fashion sector: tycoon Victor Fung

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The city has the opportunity to train people on implementing sustainability and ESG practices in the fashion industry, Li & Fung honorary chairman says

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Victor Fung pictured in April 2021. The honorary chairman of conglomerate Li & Fung is on a mission to create a sustainable fashion industry. Photo: Edmond So

Martin Choi

Published: 8:30am, 20 Aug 2024

Hong Kong has the potential to become a sustainability education hub for apparel makers and firms in the fashion industry supply chain, according to tycoon Victor Fung Kwok-king.

The city has the opportunity to create yet another industry, to train people on implementing sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices, one that will put Hong Kong on the global map, Fung, the honorary chairman of supply chain management conglomerate Li & Fung, said in an interview.

“We can set up a whole series of courses and make an industry out of training in Hong Kong,” Fung said.

Li & Fung, together with professors and researchers from universities in Hong Kong and abroad, last week organised a workshop on integrating sustainability in the entire supply chain from innovation to day-to-day operations, for 30 representatives from garment factories and retail brands around the region.

The workshop was part of Li & Fung’s fashion tech summit, which was organised under the theme of sustainability as a competitive advantage.

The global fashion industry produces nearly 20 per cent of waste water and about 10 per cent of carbon emissions globally, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. A truckload of discarded clothes is burnt or sent to landfill every second around the world, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. A sustainable fashion industry would go a long way in alleviating the adverse impact of climate change.

Once Hong Kong becomes a training base for sustainability in the fashion industry, the long-term goal should be to set up globally acceptable standards for sustainable manufacturing practices that can be applied to thousands of factories around the world, Fung said.