Aiming to bring awareness to sustainability, the Sustainable Business Awards now in its 15 year gauges performances by corporate leadership on various aspects including sustainability strategy, community, energy
and water management, supply chain, and ethics among others. The 2020/2021 SBA awards companies from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines for their par excellence in upholding sustainable initiatives, this year it has identified Sunway Group as champion in sustainability by awarding the company with four awards.
The conglomerate, came out tops in categories of “Sustainability Strategy” and “Energy Management” apart from winning the Significant Achievement award in the categories of “Climate Change & Emissions” and “UN Sustainable Development Goals”. The awards were presented in the presence of Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy).
Sunway Group Executive Director Sarena Cheah said, “The very birth of Sunway was founded on the concept of sustainable development. Starting off with 800 acres of derelict tin-mining wasteland, Sunway City Kuala Lumpur is today recognised as a model smart and sustainable city, with a population of 200,000 and surrounded by more than 150 species of flora and fauna. We’ve also transplanted some 30,000 trees that collectively absorbs 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.”
On being awarded the UN SDG award, the group added that it is committed to advancing the 17 goals, Sunway aims to be Carbon Neutral by 2050 in line with the Paris Agreement. It has also established a set of five goals which are aligned to the UN-SDGs to be achieved by 2030 to reflect its commitment to the ‘3 Ps’ bottom line of People, Planet and Prosperity. As for Sustainability, it has set up a Board Sustainability Committee to oversee its sustainability agenda and to advance the Group’s sustainability leadership.
Townships are also being planned and developed into low carbon cities, promoting transit-oriented and car-light urban mobility as well as encourage the use of public transportation. Additionally, at least 40 percent of green spaces and blue spaces within the Group’s townships in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, Sunway City Ipoh and Sunway City Iskandar Puteri are reserved to minimise urban heat island impact and to preserve biodiversity.
Topic on energy efficiency, a long-term project has been introduced to reduce energy consumption from fossil fuels and switch to renewable solar energy since 2015. Sunway’s total energy consumption generated from solar energy in 2020 tripled from the previous year. This is in addition to on-going energy efficiency initiatives such as optimising chillers, switching to energy-efficient LEDs and installing motion sensors. The Group also engages with various stakeholders including employees, tenants and communities to improve awareness on energy management.
Established in 2012, the Sustainable Business Awards is organised by Global Initiatives in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Malaysia to recognise leadership in corporate sustainability across 12 categories.
