It began in 2013 when The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, the group behind the famous Pensinsula hotel chain, made a commitment to stop serving endangered species across its hotels. A simple enough task, one would think, but it made the group’s Director of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Janice Lao ask the question “What do we mean by endangered?”
“It’s very typical – we started from well-intentioned beginnings but then quickly found ourselves in a hole,” said Lao, who has been widely lauded as playing an integral part in a new wave of environmental awareness in Hong Kong and beyond.
