Hiang Kie Coffee Group Digitalises Carbon Management to Enhance ESG Reporting Efficiency
Background
In recent years, global sustainability expectations and corporate ESG disclosure requirements have continued to rise. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) now requires large listed companies to disclose Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions data.
Committed to its mission of “crafting every beverage to perfection,” Hiang Kie Coffee Group (Hiang Kie) has adopted a DGS strategy, focusing on Digital, Green, and Specialty. The company provides one-stop beverage solutions for hotels, restaurants, clubs, airline caterers, fast-food chains, and cafés, serving more than 100,000 customer outlets worldwide.
As a supplier to major food and beverage groups, Hiang Kie is increasingly required to provide carbon emissions data for its products to support customers' ESG reporting requirements. However, carbon accounting involves gathering and calculating large volumes of product and supply chain data across sourcing, production, and logistics, while complying with international standards. For SMEs, the required resources and manpower can present significant challenges.
To improve efficiency and data accuracy, Hiang Kie sought a digital solution to simplify carbon emissions calculation and management, enabling employees to easily adopt the system while improving efficiency and data accuracy.
Solution
Hiang Kie adopted GS1 HK's "ESG Supply Chain Community Solution," which aligns with international standards such as the HKEX ESG Reporting Guide and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) for carbon emissions calculation and management.
Digitalising Carbon Emissions Management
As an existing user of GS1 HK’s ezTRADE platform, Hiang Kie already processes orders and invoices digitally with its foodservice customers daily.
Supplying over 300 product types to its foodservice customers, Hiang Kie worked with GS1 Hong Kong to calculate its carbon emissions data through the ESG Supply Chain Community Platform, leveraging annual transaction data captured on the ezTRADE platform.
Traditional carbon calculations required around one week collecting, consolidating, and calculating emissions data. With the ESG Supply Chain Community Platform, employees only need to input supply quantities, and the platform automatically performs the calculations. As a result, Hiang Kie reduced the time required for carbon accounting from approximately one week to just 3 hours, significantly improving efficiency while ensuring calculations comply with international standards. This enables the company to provide Scope 3 emissions data to its foodservice customers for ESG disclosure purposes.
At the same time, the solution strengthens Hiang Kie’s competitive advantage by enhancing its ability to deliver accurate and efficient Scope 3 emissions reporting.
Fostering Supply Chain Collaboration to Lay the Foundation for Decarbonisation
Hiang Kie believes sustainability is a shared mission across the entire supply chain. The "ESG Supply Chain Community Solution" facilitates collaboration among supply chain partners by providing visibility into carbon emissions data, enabling businesses to set reduction targets and optimise operational processes.
"With global ESG compliance requirements continuing to evolve, many SMEs face challenges in managing carbon emissions data on their own due to limited resources. The ESG Supply Chain Community Platform provides a trusted, accurate and efficient platform that simplifies internal reporting processes while helping businesses meet customers’ carbon disclosure requirements with greater ease and confidence. "
Mr. Clive Chan, CEO of Hiang Kie Coffee Group
Benefits
- Reduced carbon emissions calculation time from approximately one week to three hours
- Streamlined carbon data collection and reporting processes, reducing manpower and administrative costs
- Improved data accuracy and transparency to support customers' Scope 3 disclosure requirements
- Established a stronger carbon management foundation to support future decarbonisation and sustainability strategies
- Easy to adopt, allowing SMEs to manage carbon emissions data without significant additional resources
"We embarked on our sustainability journey years ago, from sourcing Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance certified products to adopting more environmentally friendly tea bags and packaging materials. Step by step, we have advanced our green transformation. The digital carbon management platform enables us to manage carbon footprint data more efficiently and meet the Scope 3 reporting requirements of major foodservice groups. It not only enhances operational efficiency and data transparency, but also strengthens collaboration across our supply chain, laying a solid foundation for future carbon reduction and sustainability initiatives.”
Hiang Kie Coffee Group
GS1 Standards / Solutions Applied
Company Profile
Established in 1936, Hiang Kie Coffee Group Limited (HKCG) is celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2026, marking nearly nine decades of industry leadership and service excellence.
As a leading distributor of internationally renowned beverage, coffee, tea and foodservice equipment brands, HKCG has been providing one-stop beverage and foodservice solutions, professional beverage consultancy, and reliable equipment maintenance services to multinational corporations, hotels, western restaurants, clubs, airline caterers, fast food chains, cafés, and other foodservice operators for decades.
Today, the Group operates nine wholly-owned branch offices across Mainland China and has expanded its presence into overseas markets including Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Its business network spans more than 100,000 customer outlets worldwide.
Through its professionalism, customer-centric approach, and commitment to service excellence, HKCG has built a strong reputation in the industry and established itself as a trusted leader in the beverage solutions sector.