Local SMEs Garner Top Accolades in Oscars for the Environment
The search to identify local business champions in environmental sustainability has come to a fruitful end with the culmination of the Singapore Green Summit 2007 (SGS) at Shangri-La Hotel on March 29, 2007.
Jointly hosted by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), SGS consists of three awards: the ACCA Singapore Environmental and Social Reporting Awards (SESRA), the Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards (SEAA) and the SEC-Senoko Green Innovation Awards.
The winners for these prestigious environmental awards in Singapore were unveiled at the awards presentation ceremony cum gala dinner with Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources as the guest-of-honour.
Deemed as the local equivalent of the Oscars for the Environment, the SGS is a series of awards created to showcase companies which have demonstrated their commitment to the importance of corporate social responsibility, environmental best practices in business management and innovative green creations.
This year, local SMEs made a formidable presence by dominating a majority of the three award categories.
In the ACCA SESRA scheme, Origin Exterminators Pte Ltd swept the top honours. As the first local SME to garner this award, Origin Exterminators won the judges over with its impressive first-time report which clearly and succinctly explains its major impacts and issues, and how they are addressed.
Origin Exterminators is the first pest management company in Singapore to embark on the Environmental Reporting process, following the rigorous standards of ISO14001 and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines; the 2005-2006 Environmental & Social Report is a testament of Origin’s commitment to environmental protection and sustainable development.
Country Head, ACCA Singapore Mrs Penelope Phoon-Cohen said: “It is inspiring to see that local SMEs are seriously embracing the sustainability agenda and are gaining ground on some of the larger corporations in Singapore. It is of paramount importance to ACCA to continue to promote the necessity of sustainability to businesses, large and small. This year's winner, Origin Exterminators Pte Ltd demonstrates yet another step towards achieving this.”
For the second award category of SEAA, multinational corporations are strong contenders with local SMEs for the award, with Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) and Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Co. Pte Ltd (SSMC) clinching the top spots in environmental management.
As a leading manufacturer in computer storage devices, Hitachi GST is clearly a leader in environmental corporate and product stewardship and has been relentlessly pursuing its goals of being “Emission Neutral” by 2015. The company has drastically reduced its energy consumption and emissions of global warming substances. They have also implemented measures such as reduction of chemicals, re-usage of packages and implementing a green procurement system to audit their suppliers.
Not paling in comparison is SSMC’s remarkable performance in its environmental management which covers various aspects from noise, utilities, waste minimisation, health and global warming substance reduction. Being the first to implement NEWater alternate feed source, SSMC is significantly strong in energy reduction. From 2001 to 2002 there was 75% energy saving and last year alone they showed another 17% reduction, mainly attributed to their optimization of their chilled water and cleanroom operating systems.
Mr Howard Shaw, SEC Executive Director added, “The Singapore Environmental Achievement Award is established to reward excellence in environmental management and has done well to catalyse business efforts on the path to sustainability. SEAA has seen strong performances from the MNCs and SMEs and we certainly hope that environmental sustainability will be integrated to the corporate vision and strategy of companies as the economy picks up.”
The SEC-Senoko Power Green Innovations Award winner, Omega Thermal, uses a simple yet revolutionary technology that can be readily adopted in shopping malls, offices and food outlets across Singapore. This company created a comprehensive Heating Ventilation and Aircon (HVAC) system which utilises the ‘waste heat’ from air condenser units or chillers to produce hot water and has proved to be an extremely good innovation for businesses or services that require large quantities of hot water at zero additional costs.
“Omega Thermal has captured the spirit of innovation and environmental-consciousness that the award aims to promote. Omega Thermal has also demonstrated that SMEs have a crucial role to play in driving the creation and application of green innovative products. We congratulate them on their award,” said Mr Roy Adair, President and CEO of Senoko Power Ltd.
These companies have proven to be distinguished leaders in their field of promoting sustainable business and environmental protection and the SGS is a celebration of what businesses in Singapore are doing to achieve the triple bottom line for economic, social and environmental results.
It is noteworthy that local SMEs are now taking a more active role in environmental stewardship, proving that it is not only the MNCs that are capable of balancing profits with environmental sustainability.
For further information please contact:
Ms. Fazilah Muhammad Manager, Business Relationships ACCA Singapore Tel: 6734 8110 HP: 9727 0907 Email: Fazilah.muhammad@sg.accaglobal.com
Ms. Michelle Seth-Langbein Manager, Marketing & Communications ACCA Singapore Tel: 6734 8110 HP: 9479 7860 Email: michelle.seth-langbein@sg.accaglobal.com