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Alaya Consulting is a specialist consultancy focusing on ESG reporting, pre-assurance and sustainability training.
Alaya Consulting is a specialist consultancy focusing on ESG reporting, pre-assurance and sustainability training.
Associate consultant
Ruby Fang joined Alaya Consulting as an associate consultant in hopes to promote corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. Her main role includes day-to-day client communication, data management and preparation of reports. She graduated from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with a major in Environmental Sciences and a minor in Social Sciences. Ruby has also completed the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) accreditation training.
Associate consultant
I joined Alaya Consulting with an interest in environmental protection and sustainable development, hoping to provide better solutions for different companies, promoting sustainable development and achieving carbon neutrality. I was mainly responsible for data collection, environmental disclosure, carbon audits and assisting in the preparation of reports. I am fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. I graduated with a master’s degree in environmental engineering and management from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in atmospheric science from Nanjing University. I am also a yoga enthusiast.
Associate consultant
Xiaotong is responsible for handling data collection, writing ESG reports, and day-to-day client communications. She also assists with ESG disclosures and client support. She obtained her Master of Chemical Engineering in Shenzhen University, with a longterm focus on environmental pollutant assessment.
She also graduated in Bachelor of Engineering Science from Chang’an University, majoring in water pollution management.
Intern
Alisa Lam is an intern working at Alaya consulting during her gap year. She plans on studying Politics, International Relations and Global Sustainable Development at Warwick University in 2022. She has a keen interest in understanding what makes the best sustainability report, promoting corporate social responsibility and learning how to tailor sustainable strategies for different companies. She understands that implementing environmental and social policies is crucial in building a successful and resilient enterprise in today’s world. She is responsible for writing and revising reports as well as doing research for Alaya.
Management Trainee
Gabriel joined Alaya Consulting as a management trainee, responsible for conducting ESG advisory and reporting along with assisting the business development and marketing team.
He graduated from The University of Hong Kong with a bachelor’s degree of science majored in Environmental Science. Gabriel understands that working towards improving environmental and social issues is fundamental to building a sustainable and successful business. He would like to make a positive impact by joining the ESG advisory industry.
Associate consultant
Better ESG management shapes a more resilient and sustainable future.
Responsible for handling social data collection and analysis; Assist in preparing the sustainability report and daily communications with clients; Advise clients on ESG- related issues to optimize ESG disclosure and improve ESG performance.
Graduated from Uppsala University in Sweden with a master's degree in business and economics. Master thesis themed in green finance.
Associate Consultant
Eason joined Alaya Consulting as an associate consultant, responsible for preparing ESG reports. He is passionate about sustainability and eager in helping enterprises to improve their ESG performance. He graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a bachelor’s degree in science, major in Earth System Science and minor in Biology. Eason’s hobbies are playing table tennis and playing the guitar.
Consultant
Alva Yeung is keen in helping companies create sustainability strategies to help mitigate environment and social impact. Coming from an international relations background, she is familiar with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, UN Global Compact and other international initiatives. She is also responsible for social data analysis, facilitating stakeholder communication, ESG report writing and day-to-day client communication. Alva has completed the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) accreditation training.
Alva obtained her Master of International Relations and Public Affairs in University of Hong Kong and Bachelor Degree in City University of Hong Kong, major in Asian and International Studies.
Business Development and Marketing Manager
Sunny joined Alaya in 2020 with a goal to bolster ESG and sustainability in Hong Kong.
He works with Alaya to develop and promote its initiatives such as HERA and ESG Newswire.
He also works with existing and new partners to collaborate and host events promoting ESG strategy and disclosure.
Sunny has great plans to design and develop Alaya’s own ESG rating system in the coming future.
Born in India, bred in Hong Kong, and a bachelor’s degree from NYU, Sunny comes from a rich and diverse range of experiences.
He majored in Finance and Marketing and minored in Social Entrepreneurship.
He co-founded his own social enterprise, Grounded Upcycling, in New York that upcycles spent coffee grounds into soap and face masks.
In his free time, Sunny likes to go hiking, read, or play Squash!
Founder
Tony is the founder of Alaya Consulting Limited. With more than 16 years of experience in advising C-suite executives, both in-house and from the client side, he is particularly experienced in the development of corporate sustainability strategies, training, communication and ESG reporting approaches.
Tony works with client companies to help them improve disclosure levels and ESG ratings. Recent clients include AAC Technologies, CIMC, Panda Green Energy, Chiho Environmental Group, Integrated Waste Management, Baguio, MicroPort, Tianjin Port and others. Recent projects include organising the Hong Kong ESG Reporting Awards, contributing to the development of industry best practices.
Tony is a Chartered Company Secretary, a GRI Nominated Trainer, a carbon audit professional accredited by the Association of Energy Engineers, a Practitioner of Institute of Environmental Management Association and a certified sustainability assurance practitioner. He has also successfully completed the practitioner training of Integrated Reporting.
Prior to setting up Alaya, Tony assumed senior roles in various leading communications agencies and a Fortune top 10 financial services group. Before embarking on his career in communications, Tony spent a number of years in banking and financial journalism. He received a master’s degree in Corporate Governance from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a bachelor’s degree in International Business from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Korean Companies Embrace ESG
Following the global trend, Korea too started viewing ESG as an important factor of business from early 2010s onwards and revised regulations on posting and disclosing environment related information. According to a recent survey, finance was the single largest industry that led the promotion of ESG projects (25.6%). Efforts of five major financial institutions of Korea in integrating ESG factors into business strategies highlight the industry’s transitory efforts. One outcome of this effort is the increasing trend of ESG-related funds and bonds, expected to generate earnings based on efficient management of implicit costs and assets deployed.
Due to the current market volatility, this investment sentiment has been slightly curbed. However, the rise of oil prices and the unstable supplies of natural gas have raised awareness about sources of renewable energy. This has opened a new door for ESG projects in financial institutions. ESG has become an inevitable trend among businesses, business models and portfolio restructuring.
The major socio-political polices led by the Korean government are K-SDGs (Korean-Sustainable Development Goals), K-New deal, and establishing presidential advisory bodies for national sustainability projects.
First, the K-SDGs are 17 goals that respond to UN’s SDGs. K-SDGs are divided and allocated to government departments. Next, the ministry would cooperate with experts and local governments to set up specific legislations to achieve K-SDGs.
K-New Deal is a recent national development project to overcome recession through promoting an employment safety net, digital innovations and green energy generation. Such directions of the previous government overlapped with ESG trend. However, K-New Deal was continuously criticized for lack of effectiveness.
In the current government, K-New Deal business was announced as the first target to restructure its large expense (34 trillion won planned this year). For instance, investment in businesses areas that K-New Deal focused upon and tax concessions for related funds were curtailed.
But this does not indicate Korean government’s lack of interest in ESG. National policy has always targeted sustainable economic growth but has been reformed after the change of regime. ESG has been and will remain a considerable topic among Korean industries.
The apparent surge in action on the ESG front notwithstanding, there have been setbacks. First is that there is no designated department to assess firms’ ESG performances. This leads to confusion in investor judgement on deciding which firm to invest in.
Second is the effectiveness of major policies. At this moment, the government encourages spread of ESG management with provision of consulting and benefits (e.g., lower interest loans and extension of credit) to SMEs with excellent ESG performance. However, lack of human resources and assets makes it difficult for SMEs to undertake ESG projects the way larger enterprises can.
Overall, the integration of ESG into Korea’s national development has a long way to go, and the effectiveness of current polices seems insufficient at this moment.