Press Release

Sunway Group won four awards at the Sustainable Business Awards Malaysia 2020/21, including coming out tops in the categories of “Sustainability Strategy” and “Energy Management”, at one of the most prestigious corporate sustainability award programmes in Asia.

Sunway also won 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).

These wins solidify the Group’s commitment to best ESG practices that are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals throughout all of Sunway’s 13 business units.

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.”

“Our experience has shown that sustainability and profitability can go hand-in-hand, and we look forward to continuing this journey in making a positive difference to our economy, the environment and the society at large.”

Sunway was recognised in each of the following categories for its outstanding and continuous commitment to these sustainability pillars:

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

In line with Sunway’s commitment to advancing the 17 UN-SDGs, a holistic and comprehensive approach encompassing good governance, environmental stewardship, talent management and community investment is adopted to ensure sustainable growth over the long term.

Sunway aims to be Carbon Neutral by 2050 in line with the Paris Agreement. The Group 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.

These goals are:

1. Transforming our Portfolios to Low-Carbon Sustainable Cities
2. Advocating a Responsible Value Chain
3. Developing a Safe, Equal and Dignified Workforce
4. Investing in Community Inclusivity
5. Respecting Ethical Principles

Sustainability Strategy

Sunway’s sustainability approach is anchored on our vision to be Asia’s model corporation in sustainable development. It has set up a Board Sustainability Committee to oversee Sunway’s sustainability agenda and to advance the Group’s sustainability leadership. The Group also has a sustainability policy that lays down the general principles and structures that governs the sustainability strategy of the organisation to foster sustainable value creation for its stakeholders.

Climate Change & Emissions

Sunway Group’s three public-listed companies namely Sunway Bhd, Sunway Construction Group Bhd and Sunway REIT have become one of the earliest Malaysian public listed companies to join over 1,700 organisations worldwide to publicly support the recommendations by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and have started reporting in line with these recommendations in their annual reports.

Sunway’s townships are planned and developed into low carbon cities characterised by their compact and mixed developments. These developments promote 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.

Energy Management

The Group approaches decarbonisation through the use of renewable energy as well as improving its energy efficiency. Sunway has embarked on a long-term project to reduce its 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 (SBA) is organised by Global Initiatives in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Malaysia to recognise leadership in corporate sustainability across 12 categories, including sustainability strategy, community, energy and water management, supply chain and ethics, among others.

SBA’s state-of-the-art process is developed by an international team with over 15 years of experience in a wide range of business awards, benchmarking and metrics.