NEWS & UPDATES
Sarawak Energy Now A Member Of Global Community On Sustainability
KUCHING, 28th JUNE 2016, TUESDAY: Sarawak Energy is now a member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Gold Community, a global network launched in February this year, made up of leading international organisations that helps shape the future of sustainability. Meeting its commitment towards embedding sustainable practices in its operations life cycle, joining the GRI community gives Sarawak Energy an opportunity to benchmark its sustainability practices against members of the organisation on sustainability as well as to benefit from knowledge sharing and collaboration among the GRI Global community members.
GRI, an international independent organisation that helps businesses, governments and other organisations understand and communicate the impact of business on significant sustainability issues, has pioneered corporate sustainability reporting since 1997. GRI launched its GRI Gold Community in Feb this year building on its collaborative, global multi-stakeholder network.
The community has a membership of more than 550 organisations from 69 countries such as the United States, Australia, Netherlands, Japan and France which represent more than 35 sectors of the world's economy. The diverse companies and organisations from across businesses, civil society, mediating institutions, labour and inter-governmental agencies, united in the belief that greater transparency is a catalyst for change towards a more sustainable economy.
Aisah Eden, Sarawak Energy Executive Vice President for Corporate Services said, being part of GRI Gold Community is a testimony of how serious Sarawak Energy is, in term of its commitment towards sustainability. We aspire to be a sustainability leader especially in the utility industry in the region.
"It is a gradual process whereby we continue to learn and adopt sustainable processes in our business operation. We have taken the essential step by adopting the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol on a voluntary basis, which goes beyond statutory requirements, after becoming a Sustainability Partner of the International Hydropower Association in 2011.
"This was an integral part of the company's commitment towards sustainability in its hydropower project development and operations. From here on, we aim to expand our sustainability initiatives and processes corporate wide where sustainability is an integral part of the decision-making process within Sarawak Energy. We believe by being part of the GRI Gold Community, we will be able to achieve this objective through knowledge and experience sharing with other members," she said.
Sarawak Energy’s sustainability team recently participated in the 5th GRI Global Conference 2016 in Amsterdam. The conference served as an introductory phase into the GRI Gold Community for Sarawak Energy. The team consisting of its Sustainability Manager, Mohamad Irwan Aman and Sustainability Analyst, Zaimie Zainal Abidin, led by Jiwari Abdullah, Sarawak Energy’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Prior to this, Sarawak Energy has been taking proactive initiatives towards sustainability by setting up an internal team of sustainability protocol assessors who were trained by sustainability specialists from IHA (International Hydropower Association) to become an internal assessors to identify areas of improvement on the way the company develops and operates its hydropower project.
Sarawak Energy published its first Sustainability Report for 2014 last year and the report will be available on its website soon.
