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Keppel Land ranks 17th in the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World
Singapore, 22 January 2014——At the World Economic Forum 2014 in Davos, Switzerland, today, Keppel Land Limited (Keppel Land) was listed in the prestigious Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World 2014. It takes 17th position globally, placing it tops among Asian as well as real estate companies worldwide.
At the same time, Keppel Land has also retained its position in The Sustainability Yearbook 2014 for the fourth consecutive year as one of the top 15% companies worldwide in sustainability leadership. The bar has also been raised this year to include only corporations that achieve a score within 30% of the best performing company in the respective industry.
Mr Ang Wee Gee, CEO of Keppel Land, said, “As environmental, social and governance issues dominate global agendas, we recognise that sustainability is no longer an option, but a necessity.
“As Asia’s leading developer, Keppel Land adopts a proactive approach towards environmental management and protection to create a sustainable future. We are dedicated and committed to develop properties that improve the quality of life of communities across Asia through integrating sustainability into our business operations.
“Looking ahead, Keppel Land will continue to sharpen our focus on sustainability and innovation. In doing so, we believe that Keppel Land can shape the future to achieve positive and sustainable outcomes for our business, the environment and the community at large.”
Aligning itself with best practices, Keppel Land seeks guidance from internationally-recognised standards including the ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. In reporting its progress, Keppel Land adopts the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Framework. Its report is also externally assured in accordance with the AA1000 Assurance Standard. Keppel Land’s Sustainability Report 2012, titled ‘Shaping the Future’, was rated Level A+. The report covered the Company’s performance in the six categories – economic, environmental, society, labour, human rights, and product responsibility. It also included sector-specific disclosures and performance indicators from the GRI Construction and Real Estate Sector Supplement.
At Keppel Land, driven by a commitment to shape a better future, employees are also challenging themselves to constantly think and see things from a different angle. A new brand tagline – Thinking Unboxed – was launched in June 2013, which articulates what the Company does to uphold the Keppel quality hallmark.
Mr Doug Morrow, Managing Director, Corporate Knights, said, “In selecting the world’s clean capitalism leaders, we adopt a rigorous assessment where corporations are measured against 12 resource and social-productivity metrics.
“This is the first time a Singapore company has done so well since the launch of the Global 100 in 2005. It goes to show that there is a heightened awareness with regards to sustainability issues among Asian countries today. Similarly, in the real estate sector, with growing concerns on building green developments, it has further encouraged developers to implement sustainability initiatives in their business models.
“Since its inception in 2005, the Global 100 has outperformed its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI (Morgan Stanley Capital International – All Country World Index), by 3.21% as at end-2013. We attribute this excess return to the growing investment relevance of core sustainability themes, including water scarcity, rising energy prices and growing competition for human capital, all of which are captured in the Global 100 methodology.
"We believe that eco-leaders such as Keppel Land and the rest of the Global 100 lead the way for a sustainable future with their relentless commitment and efforts toward changing the way we do business today, and encourage more corporations to join on this sustainability journey.”
Focused on the triple bottom line of economic viability, environmental protection and social responsibility, Keppel Land strives to ensure that sustainable policies, strategies and practices are incorporated into its day-to-day business activities. Its dedication and ongoing efforts put the Company in good stead to meet the rising requirements for environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures. Read more about Keppel Land’s ESG efforts in Annex 1.
Environmental Efforts
Recognising the impact that buildings have on the environment, Keppel Land has put in place a set of Environmental Design Guidelines for its new developments in the areas of certification, energy, water, landscaping and materials use.
Keppel Land has also set the standard of achieving at least the Green Mark Goldplus and Gold standards by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore for all new properties in Singapore and overseas respectively. By 2015, the Company also targets for all of its completed commercial buildings in Singapore to achieve at least the BCA Green Mark Goldplus standard.
To-date, Keppel Land has a total of 38 BCA Green Mark-certified projects in Singapore and overseas. This includes the two highest Platinum awards for Ocean Financial Centre in Singapore, and International Financial Centre Jakarta Tower 2 in Indonesia. When all 38 developments are completed, savings of more than 80 million kWh per annum is expected. This translates to an annual saving of about $20 million in energy cost.
The Company has set the goal of reducing its carbon emissions intensity by 16% below its 2010’s emission levels by 2020. Its efforts are expected to yield potential savings of $18.3 million and annual savings of $4.8 million per annum from 2020 thereafter.
Keppel Land’s commitment is exemplified in the LEED-Platinum certified Ocean Financial Centre, a premium Grade A office building at the heart of Singapore’s business and financial district. Ocean Financial Centre also holds the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Vertical Garden, and is the first office development in Singapore to achieve the highest Green Mark Platinum Award by the BCA. The building stands out with its iconic design and state-of-the-art green features, such as the largest assembly of solar panels in Singapore’s Central Business District, an energy-efficient hybrid chilled water system and an integrated paper recycling facility for all offices.
At another of Keppel’s landmark project, the world-class Keppel Bay waterfront precinct sits on what was once Keppel Harbour in the 1960s. Today, Keppel Bay comprises two completed residential developments – Caribbean and Reflections at Keppel Bay; Corals at Keppel Bay, which is currently under construction; and Marina at Keppel Bay. Through Keppel’s meticulous masterplanning and intensive clean-up efforts, Keppel Bay is today an underwater sanctuary teaming with marine life. Incorporating the latest in green technology, Marina at Keppel Bay became the first marina in Asia to receive the BCA Green Mark Gold Award in 2011.
Keppel Land also inculcates a green mindset among its key stakeholders through its Go Green with Keppel Land education and outreach programme. The Company produces the Green Fit-Out and Green Office Operation Guides, which are distributed to its tenants. The former outlines sustainable initiatives and environmentally-friendly fixtures such as use of materials to ensure minimal volatile organic compound levels in the office space, as well as recommended energy-efficient lightings and water-saving fittings, that companies can adopt when refurbishing their office space. The Green Office Operation Guide provides practical guidance to tenants on how they can incorporate environmentally-friendly practices at their workplace, such as waste minimisation and recycling, energy and water conservation, as well as eco-awareness.
Regular outreach activities such as talks and workshops by industry experts, as well as eco-events, also help engage and promote environmental awareness among its stakeholders including employees, tenants, homebuyers and the wider public.
Social
As a global citizen, Keppel Land seeks to give back to communities in which it operates. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) committees have been set up in Singapore, China and Vietnam to identify, implement and monitor initiatives especially in the areas of environment and education.
Keppel Land supports international volunteering initiatives such as the Singapore International Foundation’s Words on Wheels in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Water for Life in Yangon, Myanmar.
In Singapore, the Company supported the National Library Board’s Book Exchange for three years, as well as the kidsREAD programme since April 2012. Keppel Land has also adopted the Jurong Lake and sponsored the Learning Trail @ Jurong Lake. This is part of Keppel Land’s efforts to cultivate a sense of eco-awareness among the Jurong community including future residents at its fully-sold residential project, The Lakefront Residences, which is located close to Jurong Lake. Through Keppel’s contribution towards the development of the Learning Trail, students can cultivate good water habits and encourage greater stewardship to ensure the long-term sustainability of this precious resource.
The Company was named the “Most Admired ASEAN Enterprise” for CSR at the ASEAN Business Awards 2010 and 2013.
Safety takes preeminence as a Keppel core value and is an integral aspect of Keppel Land’s business operations. The Company strives to ensure that everyone who comes to work goes home safe by creating a zero-harm workplace. The Company has zero tolerance for non-compliance with workplace health and safety regulations.
Keppel Land was also conferred the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Developer Award at the WSH Awards 2013 for the second consecutive year, and selected by the WSH Council to be a bizSAFE mentor for the second term. As a bizSAFE mentor, Keppel Land leads and guides contractors in the building and construction industry to conform to exemplary safety standards, as well as provides support and advice for continuous improvement in safety at the workplaces.
In Vietnam, Keppel Land, together with its local partners set up Ho Chi Minh’s first Safety Awareness Centre which provides training to raise the safety standards among the contractors’ workforce. Since its opening in 2011, more than 10,000 workers have been successfully inducted and trained.
Governance
Financial prudence, discipline and unwavering commitment towards upholding good governance have enabled Keppel Land to deliver long-term value and sustainable returns to its shareholders.
Keppel Land is a component of both the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific and World Indices. It was also named the Regional Sector Leader (Office) by the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) 2012/ 2013. In The Business Times’ Governance and Transparency Index 2013, Keppel Land ranked 5th out of 664 companies. The index ranks listed companies in Singapore based on the quality of their financial disclosure, corporate governance and transparency.
The Keppel Land Board recognises that proper succession planning plays an important role in ensuring continuous and effective stewardship of the Company. The Company’s succession plans are reviewed annually to ensure the progressive renewal of the Board, including the Chairman and the CEO.
As part of its board renewal process, two new independent non-executive Directors – Mr Yap Chee Meng and Professor Huang Jing – were recently appointed to the Board.
In addition, Mr Loh Chin Hua, was appointed Chairman of Keppel Land on 1 January 2014. He took over from Mr Choo Chiau Beng, who retired in end-December 2013. At 52, Mr Loh has been with the Keppel Group for 11 years and possesses over 25 years of experience in real estate investing and fund management spanning the US, Europe and Asia.
Keppel Land has a total of 12 Directors on its Board, of whom three are female Directors. The Directors provide relevant core competencies in areas such as legal, industry knowledge, finance and risk management.
The core management team at Keppel Land comprises nine individuals, including two females, who oversee the strategic and business operations of the Company in property development for sale and property fund management.
Keppel Land also adopts a localisation policy at its overseas offices. Over 50% of locals assume the position of head of department at its various overseas offices.
About Keppel Land
One of Asia’s premier property developers, Keppel Land is committed to hand over to the next generation a more developed, yet cleaner and greener world. Adopting a proactive approach towards environmental management and protection, the Company strives to create sustainable and optimal live-work-play environments in all its properties, celebrated for their quality, innovation and integrity. Keppel Land is recognised for its sterling portfolio of award-winning residential developments and investment-grade commercial properties as well as high standards of corporate governance and transparency.
As part of its sustainable journey, Keppel Land has also put in place policies, strategies and practices that will help us achieve positive outcomes for our businesses, the environment and community at large.
Keppel Land has also been conferred several of sustainability awards. These include being named the Most Admired ASEAN Enterprise under the CSR category (Large size company) at the ASEAN Business Awards 2013, the Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (Services category), the Sustainable Business Award (Large Enterprise) at the Singapore Sustainability Awards 2013 and Green Champion at the Singapore Compact CSR Awards 2013.
For more information on Keppel Land’s sustainability efforts, please visit www.keppelland.com.
About the Corporate Knights Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations
The Global 100 is the most extensive data-driven corporate sustainability assessment in existence, and inclusion is limited to a select group of the world’s top 100 large-cap companies, with a market capitalisation in excess of US$2 billion. Organised by Toronto-based media and investment research company, Corporate Knights, the annual Global 100 was launched in 2005, and is announced each year at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The Global 100 methodology for evaluating companies’ sustainability or “clean capitalism” performance was cited as a leading global practice (by SustainAbility in their Rate the Raters research program, Phase 4).
Shortlisted companies are screened based on four criteria – sustainability disclosure practices, financial health, product category and financial sanctions. Companies that pass all four screens constitute the 2014 Global 100 Shortlist.
Under the Global 100, these companies are scored on up to 12 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for their respective industries, as follows:
Category | KPIs |
Resource Productivity | 1.Energy Productivity 2.Carbon Productivity 3.Water Productivity 4.Waste Productivity |
Financial Performance | 5.Innovation Productivity 6.Percentage Tax Paid 7.CEO to Average Worker Pay 8.Pension Fund Status |
Employee Management | 9.Safety Performance 10.Employee Turnover 11.Leadership Diversity 12.Clean Capitalism Pay Link |
For more information on Global 100, visit www.global100.org.