“What we are doing at Sunway is strongly based on the principle that we can all do well by doing good,” said Sunway Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah.
IT has been eight years since the Paris Agreement where the world agreed to limit global warming to 1.5°C by 2050.
Where are we now on the course of ensuring that we achieve this target?
On this, the UN Climate Change Conference – United Arab Emirates (COP28 UAE) will be held in November this year to take stock and assess the world’s progress on climate action while aligning efforts to close any gaps that will hinder it from achieving the goal.
While nations grapple with the task of meeting the deadline on global warming, businesses worldwide on the other hand have had to up their ante on incorporating sustainable practices within their value chains.
After all, it has been 17 years since the issues of environmental, social and governance (ESG) first came to the fore, and businesses are now concerned over the consequences of losing out on trust-building due to lack of transparency.
In providing evidence for transparency and accountability in business decisions and operations to investors, Bursa Malaysia in 2016 made ESG reporting mandatory for listed companies.
Disclosure and transparency
For Sunway, while disclosure and transparency are crucial, the core of reporting is not so much for profitable gain but more a part of its philosophy in conducting business.
Founder and chairman Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah believes that Sunway should operate its business with a conscience as part of its commitment to the people and planet.
“We believe that transparency builds trust.
“We firmly believe that no corporation can live apart from the communities that it serves. What we are doing at Sunway is strongly based on the principle that we can all do well by doing good.”
Sunway had sustainability incorporated into its DNA when the conglomerate was first established in 1974, so it was familiar and ready to embrace the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Sunway aligned its business practices with the SDGs and integrated the ESG framework to manage and mitigate risks, allowing the group to demonstrate transparency and accountability among its stakeholders.
The group’s commitment to ESG could be seen through diverse efforts such as increasing the number of electric vehicle charging stations within Sunway premises nationwide to address range anxiety, building renewable energy capacity for a carbon neutral future, and bringing pesticide-free produce to the cities via vertical urban farms to promote food security.
Sunway City Kuala Lumpur prides itself as a model low-carbon township in the country.
Actions in place
Strict and strong governance is evident as each business division within the group is given a decarbonisation target to hit. Under this carbon-reduction strategy, business divisions need to find solutions to cut carbon emissions, or pay a carbon price by having an amount deducted from their bonus pool.
The transformation journey across the group’s business operations including retail, healthcare, leisure and more has not been an easy one, but it follows five goals to benchmark against its yearly performance.
To transform its portfolios into low carbon sustainable cities, the group is turning to renewable energy generated through solar panels installed at its shopping malls, hospitals and hotels; diverting waste from landfills by having food composting machines and e-bins to collect old and obsolete gadgets and digital devices for recycling, and having its building materials certified with ISO 14001:2015, which optimises the use of resources, among others.
The group’s suppliers must comply with all relevant laws, regulations and standards – or risk being removed from the supply chain. To-date, there has been zero incidences of non-compliant cases while about 7,131 tonnes of carbon emission have been avoided through the practice of sustainable purchasing of goods from 2015 to 2021.
The group has also positively impacted close to one million beneficiaries through its #SunwayforGood corporate responsibility initiatives – addressing social inequalities by providing support and assistance to the underserved and B40 communities.
Recognising that good governance is imperative to establish a resilient foundation of sustainability practices, Sunway formed a board sustainability committee in 2020 to identify and provide advice on key ESG elements for all business divisions.
The committee plays a crucial role in ensuring accountability from every business division towards Sunway’s sustainability plan as it seeks to develop evidence-based goals for continued progress.
The vision and commitment to the ESG agenda across the board has brought recognition to the group with not one but five awards at the recent Star Media Group ESG Positive Impact Awards (ESG PIA). The categories are Responsible Consumption and Production, Transformation, Water Management and Efficiency, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Supply Chain Management.
Sunway took home five awards at the Star Media Group ESG Positive Impact Awards.
50 years and counting
Next year, Sunway is celebrating its golden anniversary. It has grown with a presence in over 50 locations worldwide and a 16,000- strong workforce across several industries.
While it has taken half a century to be where it is today, Sunway will not rest on its laurels but intensify its efforts in achieving its sustainability goals and strengthening its leadership position in ESG.
Sunway Group chairman’s office executive director Ong Pang Yen expresses the group’s hope in setting an example to inspire other companies to embrace the ESG agenda.
“The ESG measurements and compliance framework are seen as one of the more effective tools in communicating a company’s sustainability strategies and vision towards creating long-term value for its stakeholders.
“We are very much committed to sharing and reporting our sustainability strategy, framework and initiatives so that our stakeholders can see the way Sunway addresses pressing environmental, social and governance matters.
“We are driven internally by a strong and deep conviction to keep doing the right things the right way, and such is reflected in our business philosophy and core values of ‘integrity, humility and excellence’,” says Ong.
