“HSBC Living Business ESG Awards” will assess the overall sustainability performance of SMEs, where SMEs with good sustainability practice will be awarded with “Certificate of Merit” or “Certificate of Excellence”. 

In “HSBC Living Business SDGs Awards” , three Sustainable Development Goals have been selected as the annual theme, namely Goal 5: Gender Equality, Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy and Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Assessment will focus on SME’s particular scheme / project contributing to the SDGs. For each SDG, a Gold, Silver and Bronze Award will be given to SMEs with outstanding performance, and cash prize of HK$ 60,000, HK$ 30,000 and HK$ 10,000 will be given to awardee respectively. 

In addition, Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards winners of the HSBC Living Business Awards 2023 will be offered a one-year Affiliate Member membership of the Business Environment Council Limited (BEC). Details of the membership can be found in BEC's website (www.bec.org.hk).  

1. Any SME that started business in Hong Kong no later than 1 January 2022 is eligible to participate in the HSBC Living Business Awards 2023. Applicants must submit a valid (at the time of application) Business Registration Certificate upon application.

2. For the purpose of these awards, an 'SME' is defined as an enterprise with no more than 250 employees in Hong Kong.  An 'employee' refers to a full-time employee who is working in Hong Kong.

3. Gold Award winners in any given year will not be given any cash prize awards in the same categories for the next year. However, the Gold Award winners are welcome to continue to participate.

Applicants are evaluated with due consideration to the nature and scale of their business, and will be judged based on the following criteria according to the awards they have applied:  

 1. HSBC Living Business ESG Awards - This award will assess SMEs’ overall performance on both Environmental, Social and Governance aspects. Applicants has to reach a standard score in assessment and meet minimal requirements in all 3 pillars to be awarded.

2. HSBC Living Business SDGs Awards – This award requires SME to obtain Certificate of Merit / Excellence in HSBC Living Business ESG Awards as prerequisite of entering stage of detailed assessment. The award will assess SMEs’ achievement / projects on two designated Sustainable Development Goals of the year. Judging criteria include project comprehensiveness, effectiveness, top management involvement, stakeholder engagement, project continuity, impact to the industry / community and connection to the theme of the year.  

1. Eligibility Review

During application phase, all applicants will be screened for their eligibility according to their number of employees and date of incorporation.

2. HSBC Living Business ESG Awards

One-stage assessment - Applicants are required to fill in a designated online questionnaire evaluating their overall ESG performance.

3. HSBC Living Business SDGs Awards

3.1 All participants of HSBC Living Business SDGs Awards should also enter the HSBC Living Business ESG Awards as pre-requisite.  

3.2 Preliminary Assessment - Applicants are required to fill in and submit a designated project form to describe their work on the corresponding SDGs during the period 1 January 2022 to 31 July 2023. Applicants with outstanding performance will be shortlisted for next stage.

3.3 Detailed Assessment – Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed and site visit will be arranged during the detailed assessment. A second round of shortlisting will be conducted to selected finalists. 

3.4 Final Round Judging – Finalists will be invited to present in front of judging panel in deciding the winner.

4. Judge

4.1 The assessment processes of HSBC Living Business ESG Awards and the first two stages of assessment of HSBC Living Business SDGs Awards will be conducted by Programme Partners.

4.2  Teams that advance to the final round of the HSBC Living Business SDGs Awards will be assessed by independent panels of expert judges. Based on the information provided throughout the processes, the presentation, and the answers given to the questions from the panel, the judges make a final decision on the winners. All decisions made by the judging panels will be final and binding. 

5. Application Details

HSBC Living Business Awards 2023 will be opened for application on 1 June 2023. The application deadline will be on 31 July 2023.