CapitaLand recognised as sustainability leader in global real estate industry
Fifth consecutive ranking in Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World
Second consecutive Bronze Class in The Sustainability Yearbook – only Singapore company with medal distinction
Singapore, 21 January 2016 – CapitaLand Limited is pleased to be listed for the fifth year running in the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World by Corporate Knights, recognised as the gold standard in corporate sustainability analysis. Companies named are the top overall sustainability performers in their respective industries.
CapitaLand has also been listed in RobecoSAM’s The Sustainability Yearbook 2016 with a ‘Bronze Class’ distinction for the second year running, placing it in the top five among real estate companies worldwide. CapitaLand remains the only Singapore company to be awarded a medal distinction. RobecoSAM is an investment specialist focusing exclusively on sustainability investing. Its annual Sustainability Yearbook seeks to recognise the top 15% of companies across various industries worldwide, and identifies companies that are strongly positioned to create long-term shareholder value.
Mr Tan Seng Chai, Group Chief Corporate Officer of CapitaLand Limited and Chairman of the CapitaLand Sustainability Steering Committee, said: “CapitaLand is honoured to be ranked among the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World by Corporate Knights for the fifth consecutive year. CapitaLand is also pleased to be listed in The Sustainability Yearbook 2016 with a ‘Bronze Class’ distinction. We are especially proud to be the only Singapore company to receive a medal distinction in The Sustainability Yearbook. This is our seventh listing in The Sustainability Yearbook, and our second consecutive listing as a ‘Bronze Class’ recipient. These accolades validate our success in integrating sustainability into our business. We will stay the course and continue developing and operating sustainably and responsibly, and stay true to our credo of ‘Building People. Building Communities.’.”
Mr Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights, said: “Global 100 companies demonstrate ambition and achievement on a broad spectrum of indicators. Striving to make the world a better place, they are where people want to work, firms we want to buy from and invest in for the long term. CapitaLand is a leader in transparency and has earned its place among the world's most sustainable Real Estate Management & Development companies.”
He added: “Because the indicators are quantitative and clearly defined, the results of the Global 100 are objective and replicable, and more akin to a financial index than many other ‘sustainability’ indices.”
To combat climate change, 195 countries adopted the Paris Agreement last month, pledging action and investment to limit the global temperature rise this century to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Singapore has also committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 36%, by 2030.
Mr Tan added: “In line with this, CapitaLand has a long term target of achieving a 23% reduction in carbon emissions intensity by 2020, using 2008 as the base year. We are on track as CapitaLand has reduced our carbon emissions intensity across our operations by 21% since 2008, and reduced our energy and water consumption per square metre by 13.6% and 21.6% respectively through improvements in operational efficiency. As a responsible global citizen, CapitaLand will continue to innovate and push forward with our sustainability initiatives, and do our part for this collective effort against climate change.”
CapitaLand is one of the first companies in Singapore to voluntarily publish sustainability reports annually, since 2008. The CapitaLand Global Sustainability Report 2014, based on the latest Global Reporting Initiative ‘Global 4’ Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, is available at http://www.capitaland.com/csr/sustainabilityreport/2014/index.html. It remains the first and largest real estate company in Asia to achieve ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications for its Environmental, Health and Safety Management System across 15 countries with its investment properties across Asia and Europe
For its sustainability efforts, CapitaLand is also listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and Asia Pacific Index, Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark Report (Regional Sector Leader for Asia, Diversified), FTSE4Good Index Series, MSCI Global Sustainability Indexes, STOXX® Global ESG Leaders Indices and ChannelNewsAsia Sustainability Ranking.
ANNEX
2016 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World
Companies named in the 2016 Global 100 index are the top overall sustainability performers in their respective industries, selected from a starting universe of 4,353 listed companies with a market capitalisation greater than US$2 billion. Companies were first screened based on sustainability disclosure, financial assessment, product category and sanctions in terms of sustainability-related fines, penalties or settlements. Shortlisted companies were then assessed against 12 quantitative sustainability indicators set out by Corporate Knights to assess resource, employee and financial management:
1. Energy Productivity
2. Carbon Productivity
3. Water Productivity
4. Waste Productivity
5. Innovation Capacity
6. Percentage Tax Paid
7. CEO to Average Worker Pay
8. Pension Fund Status
9. Safety Performance
10. Employee Turnover
11. Leadership Diversity
12. Clean Capitalism Pay Link
The Global 100 consists of companies with the top overall score in each Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) sector, developed by MSCI and Standard & Poor’s. In order to match the industry composition of the benchmark, each sector is assigned a fixed number of slots in the Global 100. The ranking is based on publicly disclosed data such as financial statements and sustainability reports.
For more information on Global 100, visit http://www.corporateknights.com/reports/global- 100/.
The Sustainability Yearbook 2016
The Sustainability Yearbook 2016 looks back at companies’ sustainability performance in 2015, includes the best 15% across each of the 59 industries and ranks them Gold, Silver or Bronze. To be listed in the Yearbook, companies must be within the top 15% of their industry and must achieve a score within 30% of their Industry Leader’s score. To further recognise best performers, companies with scores within a range of 5% to 10% from the score of the Industry Leader receive the RobecoSAM ‘Bronze Class’ distinction.
RobecoSAM’s annual Corporate Sustainability Assessment examines financially material factors that impact a company’s core business value drivers. Factors such as a company’s ability to innovate, attract and retain talent, or increase resource efficiency matter from an investor’s point of view because they impact a company’s competitive position and long-term financial performance. For investors, the Yearbook identifies companies that are strongly positioned to create long-term shareholder value.
Last year, a record number of companies participated in RobecoSAM’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment. Of the over 3,000 companies that were invited, 864 companies from 42 different countries participated.
For more information on The Sustainability Yearbook, visit http://yearbook.robecosam.com.