Singapore, 28 September 2016 – City Developments Limited (CDL) has, for the third year running, been named the Top Property Developer in Asia and Top Singapore Corporation in the Channel NewsAsia Sustainability Ranking. It has climbed to the second spot in the list of top 100 most sustainable companies in Asia, up from the sixth in 2015. Besides being the only Singapore company and property developer in the top 20 list for 2016, CDL is also the only Singapore company to have made it to the top 10 list for three consecutive years since the Ranking’s inception in 2014. These results were announced at the CSR Asia Summit held in Hong Kong today.
The Ranking identifies leading companies in sustainability across 11 territories in Asia, namely, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Companies are ranked based on a broad range of environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators and methodology developed by Sustainalytics, a leading provider of ESG and corporate governance ratings and research.
Besides identifying the top 100 companies in the region with the highest sustainability performance, the Ranking highlights the overall top 20 companies and the top three businesses per country. It provides investors and consumers insights into corporate sustainability practices, and enables companies to benchmark their sustainability performance against other regional businesses.
Mr Grant Kelley, CDL Chief Executive Officer said, “Sustainability is fast becoming mainstream in today’s global business environment. CDL has always been a firm proponent of integrating sustainability into our corporate vision and business strategy. This has created long-term value not only for CDL, but also our investors, customers, the broader community and the environment. CDL will continue to push forward with sustainable innovations and practices across our operations and supply chain. With the rise of green consumerism and global expansion of Socially Responsible Investment Funds, we believe our sustainability commitment will enable us to tap more growth opportunities ahead.”
For more than two decades, CDL has spearheaded numerous groundbreaking innovations in green properties, including the first CarbonNeutral® development in Asia Pacific and Singapore, 11 Tampines Concourse; Singapore’s first Eco-mall, City Square Mall; and Tree House condominium, which achieved a Guinness World Record for the largest vertical garden.
As shared in its 2016 Integrated Sustainability Report titled ‘Integrating our Strengths, Creating Future Value’, CDL has also introduced robust targets for reduction in energy and water use intensity¹ of 22% by 2020 and 25% by 2030, across its core business, from baseline year 2007, and 35% sustainable building materials² usage with effect from 2016. These new targets are in addition to CDL’s carbon emissions intensity³ reduction targets set in 2011 – 22% by 2020 and 25% by 2030, from baseline year 2007.
In 2016, CDL further took the lead as one of the first Singapore companies to align its material issues to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched in September 2015. The SDGs are expected to form a global standard that will inform future policy decisions and legislation by governments. Businesses that support the SDGs are thus more likely to be aligned with emerging policy priorities, potentially enhancing their licence to operate. CDL identified nine SDGs (refer to Annex) that are relevant to the company, based on its potential impact on and contributions to the goals.
Globally, CDL continues to be recognised for its sustainability efforts. It is ranked Top Real Estate Company and 10th in the prestigious Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World 2016, and is the only Singapore company that has been listed in the Global 100 for seven consecutive years. CDL also remains the first Singapore company to be listed on three of the world’s leading sustainability benchmarks – FTSE4Good Index Series (since 2002), Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations (since 2010) and Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (since 2011).
