NEWS & UPDATES
Sarawak Energy Strengthens Sustainability Agenda at UN General Assembly & Private Sector Forum 2017
KUCHING, 5th OCTOBER 2017, THURSDAY: The 72nd United Nations (UN) General Assembly Week and the UN Private Sector Forum 2017 focuses on accelerating business action and partnerships to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sarawak Energy’s commitment to pursuing the SDGs and embedding sustainability principles at all levels of its operations was further reinforced with participation at the event, held at UN Headquarters, New York, USA recently.
The conference brought together representatives from the private sector, civil society, academia, governments and the United Nations. Aisah Eden, Executive Vice President for Corporate Services represented Sarawak Energy at the event with Mohamad Irwan Aman, Manager for Sustainability.
“We aspire to be a leader in sustainability especially in the utility industry in the region and participation in such a prestigious forum is an important part of our sustainability journey. Adopting sustainable processes in our business and operations is a gradual process but certainly an integral one if we are to benchmark ourselves against the best in the industry,” Aisah said of Sarawak Energy’s participation.
Discussion sessions revolved around how corporate leaders challenged the status-quo and the business-as-usual mind-set to deliver business solutions towards sustainable development to realise the “making global goals, local business” sustainability agenda.
“Forums where global corporate sustainability leaders share insights and best practices allow us to learn how they align their corporate strategies towards achieving the SDGs, through collaboration and social innovations. They have provided rich insights and takeaways to be shared with the rest of the team and this will certainly build upon our own repository of knowledge,” she added.
Sarawak Energy is a member of the UN Global Compact Network Malaysia and Aisah sits on the Advisory Board. The company is also represented on the Board of Directors of the International Hydropower Association (IHA) which champions sustainability in hydropower development. It is a Sustainability Partner of the IHA, and is also a member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Gold Community. The GRI is a global network made up of leading international organisations that helps shape the future of sustainability.
In addition to learning from thought leaders, Sarawak Energy also contributes to the body of global knowledge by sharing experiences and initiatives on other international platforms.
The corporation participates in key sustainability events and discussions such the UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit 2017, Humanity United Forum 2017, Business Solutions for the SDGs and Assessing Low-Carbon Transition for Key Sectors Workshop. In Geneva in Oct 2013, Sarawak Energy representatives were at the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Human Rights in Malaysia.
