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Corporate responsibility and a stakeholder focus have long been entrenched in the John Keells value system. We are conscious of the impact of our actions, not just on the bottomline, but also on our role as an employer, provider, partner, investor and neighbour. Sustainable practices are growing in corporate priorities across the globe as it becomes apparent that sustainable growth of corporations will hinge not only on economic performance, but increasingly on the often less obvious social and environmental performance aspects. Accordingly, good sustainability reporting is growing in relevance, as stakeholders, including shareholders and providers of capital, consumers, employees, partners, suppliers, governments, the public and their agents, raise the bar of expectation in relation to the responsible and sustainable practices of corporations.
This year, as the world battles with a food crisis and an energy crisis, we focused much attention on how we, as a group address, the issue of sustainability, in order to successfully meet these growing expectations. While we are aware of its significance and have, over the years, launched a number of successful initiatives that address valid societal needs, admittedly, our current practices and sustainabilitydriven projects have been generated in a more ad hoc fashion at the industry group levels. We subscribe to the UN Global Compact and support the Millennium Development Goals. Nevertheless, we have identified the need for a more goaldriven internal process in order to translate “good intentions” into “sustainable business practices” and align these with the activities of the John Keells Social Responsibility Foundation, the nerve centre for the group's CSR efforts.
Bearing these in mind, we commissioned a groupwide sustainability assessment through the service of Det Norske Veritas AS, assurance providers and specialists in the field of sustainability reporting, in order to gain greater insight in to what we do and what we need to do better. The exercise, which was completed after the end of the financial year, highlighted the opportunities arising from within our businesses to achieve multiple stakeholder goals, as well as curiously certain relevant practices that were not captured by the present reporting process. Additionally, as a group, our ability to capture data relevant to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 parameters differed among our diverse industry groups. As a result of these learnings, the following initiatives are in the process of being introduced
- Incorporation of strategic priorities for environmental and social performance into the group's annual and long term planning processes
- Improving capability among our industry groups to pursue sustainability goals
- Creating a robust reporting system to capture groupwide information relating to GRIG3 parameters
Accordingly, I present to you, this year's Sustainability Report, which briefly captures our key business impacts, stakeholder dialogue, and some of our ongoing sustainable initiatives, with the intention of publishing our first comprehensive report in line with GRIG3 guidelines upon the successful implementation of the above initiatives.
I would like to thank my colleagues at JKH whose commitment and dedication to continuous improvement have enabled the group to take this large and yet essential stride.
Susantha Ratnayake
Chairman |
