A Center for Environmental Management Education will be established at Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute as part of the project�s initial phase. Faculty and staff from UT�s College of Business Administration, College of Engineering, and Energy, Environment and Resources Center (EERC) will deliver courses and shape curricula at the new center. The Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute will also play a role.

EERC, working through the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, is organizing the initiative.

Follow-on phases of the project will encourage Hong Kong agencies and businesses to adopt environmental management techniques practiced by successful for-profit and non-profit organizations in Tennessee.

The State Environmental Initiative (SEI) program awarded the project grant. SEI is administered by the Council of State Governments (CSG) and sponsored by the United States-Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP).

Hong Kong, a territory of China, has one of the densest populations in the world and faces environmental problems associated with fossil-fuel burning, rapid development, nonsustainable industrial practices, and highly polluting buses, minibuses, and taxis.

EERC Executive Director Jack Barkenbus regards the project as an opportunity to guide Hong Kong along the path to improved environmental stewardship, a requisite for competitiveness in the global marketplace.

"Both the public and business communities recognize that increasing levels of air and water pollution are threatening Hong Kong�s urban environment," Barkenbus says. "How well they address the problems of environmental degradation and sustainability will set the example for the rest of Asia as we head into the new millennium."

The UT partners offer considerable expertise in practical applications of environmental policy and management. The College of Business Administration, for example, was one of the nation�s first to initiate a master�s degree concentration in environmental management.

Meanwhile, EERC researchers pioneered such concepts as life-cycle analysis and extended producer responsibility, tools for identifying and controlling pollution associated with the manufacture, use, and disposal of various products.

"Solving Hong Kong�s environmental problems requires a multidisciplinary approach involving the best of engineering and business practices, and the University of Tennessee is well positioned to mobilize such an approach," Barkenbus notes. "We are particularly interested in transferring what we know about �green� product development and associated supply chains."

Established in 1994, the SEI grant program seeks to promote a clean revolution in the Asia/Pacific region through development and adoption of less-polluting and more resource-efficient products, processes, and services.

CSG is a nonpartisan organization of U.S. states and territories that champions excellence in state government. The Council conducts research, maintains a national information clearinghouse, produces numerous publications, showcases innovative state initiatives, promotes federal-state partnerships, and conducts leadership-development programs.

Launched as a presidential initiative in 1992, US-AEP is a public-private, interagency program led by the U.S. Agency for International Development and utilizes expertise from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The program fosters environmentally sound economic growth in Asia by mobilizing American technologies, services, and experience, and promoting activities in one or more of four main component groups: Clean Technology and Environmental Management, Technology Transfer, Policy, and Urban.