Sunway Wins Global Recognition For Sustainability

Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, 27 July 2022 – Sunway became the first-ever Malaysian company to win a Gold award under the Sustainability Reporting category at the Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA) 2022.

Sunway was recognised alongside other global brands for its commitment to overall excellence in sustainability reporting, providing full disclosure of material sustainability topics relevant to the organisation, explaining pertinent legislative and regulatory requirements and how they are addressed.

Apart from Sunway Berhad’s Gold award under the Sustainability Reporting category, Sunway Construction Group Berhad also won a Silver award under the General Award category. Annual reports in this category are assessed against criteria such as clear communication objectives, reader friendly layout, clear and transparent disclosures, evidence to support claimed performance, and balanced reporting.

These wins are strong testament of Sunway’s unswerving commitment to transparent and sustainable value creation for its stakeholders through strategic and effective reporting practices.

“On behalf of Sunway, we are thrilled to receive recognition from our respected peers at such an esteemed, global stage. These awards are indeed testament to Sunway’s efforts in continuously communicating our progress and achievements towards sustainable development,” says Sunway Group Brand Marketing & Communications Senior General Manager Nik Tasha Nik Kamaruddin.

“Sunway will remain committed to excellent sustainability reporting practices while creating long-term value for all its stakeholders, in line with the Group’s responsibility and commitment to the best ESG practices,” adds Nik Tasha.

Rigorous evaluation

The ARA awards were revealed at an exclusive event hosted in the Sydney Masonic Centre in Sydney on Monday, July 18, 2022 and were received by Sunway Group Brand Marketing & Communications Senior General Manager Ms. Nik Tasha Nik Kamaruddin.

Established in 1950, ARA aims to provide a platform for organisations to benchmark their annual reports against the ARA criteria, which is based on best practices around the world. The awards follow a rigorous evaluation process, where each annual report submitted to the ARA Awards is reviewed by three members of an expert panel and assessed based on its comprehensiveness and transparency.

The awards won at ARA 2022 follows Sunway’s continued recognition for its efforts towards sustainability. Earlier this year, Sunway broke into the top 15% percentile of its Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) Supersector that was assessed by FTSE Russell and also received an ESG rating of “A” by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI).

These recognitions acknowledge that Sunway continues to perform and surpass global industry averages across environmental, social, and governance (ESG), highlighting the group’s persistent and innovative efforts in championing the sustainable development agenda.

Carbon pricing framework

Sunway is the first corporation in Malaysia, and among the first in Asia, to introduce a carbon pricing framework into its business. From 2022 to 2024, the price will be set at RM15/tonne of CO2 (carbon dioxide) above a pre-defined threshold level. This price will be recalibrated progressively, with each of Sunway’s business divisions working toward their own decarbonisation targets.  Business divisions that fail to meet their targets will need to pay a price, by having an amount deducted from their bonus pool.

Last year, Sunway became one of the first few Malaysian companies to pledge support to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), demonstrating its transparency in reporting its risk and opportunities related to climate change. Sunway has published its first TCFD report in its 2021 Sustainability Report.

The group also recently launched its dedicated sustainability microsite, providing full transparency and timely updates of the company’s goals and efforts to the public and stakeholders alike.