APEC Awards the First Bio-Circular Green Prize

Issued by the APEC Secretariat

San Francisco, The United States, 14 November 2023

Attesting to the sustainable commitment made by the 21 member economies through the Bangkok Goals, APEC announces the winners of the first ever Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Award in San Francisco.

The BCG Award recognizes six distinguished individuals, businesses and organizations from the Asia-Pacific region that have concretely implemented replicable BCG economy approaches to advance sustainable and inclusive growth across APEC.

Announced by Thailand’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow during the APEC Ministerial Meeting on Tuesday, the award honors winners from three categories including women; youth; and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“To secure a resilient and sustainable future, we must take immediate, ambitious actions on climate change, air pollution and biodiversity loss,” said Vice Minister Phuangketkow. “This requires whole-of-society actions, and everyone can do their part to move the needle.”

The APEC BCG Award highlights unique contributions of each category while underscoring the critical importance of partnerships and an inclusive approach to implement the BCG economy model.

“APEC is on the right track with remarkable progress this year,” Vice Minister Phuangketkow added. “These are testaments to APEC’s potential to be a global trailblazer on environment and we must build on this momentum for further progress.”

Meet the six winners of the 2023 APEC BCG Award.

Nuanla-or Dherdkiattikun, from Thailand, founded an organic coconut farm and sets the company apart through its commitment to practicing regenerative and smart farming techniques. Grace Kwok of Hong Kong, China and her consulting company, AEC Group, is driving sustainable transformation by providing climate risk assessments. Both are winners for the women category.

Youth category winners are innovators in their own field. Kyutae Park and Wonjoon Lee from Korea are the co-founders of smart farming solutions Avalve, which allows farmers to optimize production, improve resource management and reduce risks as well as waste. Shunsuke Tsuboi from Japan founded the agri-tech company, Sagri that enables farmers to reduce the use of agricultural chemicals and maximize their efficient use of farmland.

With an innovative smart mobile farm model, Farmacy HK allows people to grow safe and fresh produce. The co-founder and CEO Raymond Mak bagged the prize in the MSMEs category alongside Hernán Asto from Peru. Asto’s company, Alinti, accelerates the transition to renewable energy by developing technology that allows rural communities to generate electricity powered only by plants.

“The United States as host of APEC this year fleshed out the Bangkok Goals through its theme, relevant projects and initiatives across APEC workstreams to advance our priorities for green growth, climate finance and clean energy transition,” said Dr Rebecca Sta Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat.

“The BCG Award is a not only a testament to APEC’s commitment in stewarding the region towards a sustainable future, but also reflects collaboration and inclusion of diverse stakeholders in driving the transition to a more sustainable future,” Dr Sta Maria concluded.

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