JKH, DIMO win ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards

SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS: The ACCA Sri Lanka presented the ACCA Sustainability Awards 2005 to John Keells Holdings and Diesel and Motor Engineering Company Limited as joint winners.

This is the second time that the Association accorded kudos for transparency and accountability in social reporting in Sri Lanka. Sumithra Gunasekera, JKH Director and DIMO's Chairman A. R. Pandithage while accepting the awards said sustainability initiatives are integral part of their operations.

"We are proud to be joint winners. We have always been mindful of all our stakeholders such as the communities within which we operate, the environment in which we do business," Gunasekera said.

"Social responsibility and sustainable development are integral to all our decision making and we hold ourselves accountable in this respect as much as in regard to our financial performance," he said.

"We are pleased that our efforts at reporting these measures have been recognised," said Gunasekera. DIMO Chairman said the spirit of sustainability has been ingrained deep into the company's culture by its founders.

"Customer First is not just a fancy cliche at DIMO. It is reflected in the substantial investments we have made in facilities, equipment, inventories, personnel and training to provide world class customer care.

"Our vision that the 'workplace must be no second to home' led us to taking unprecedented decisions in treating people with respect and equality," Pandithage said.

"This award adds a new dimension of value to DIMO and encourages us to hold fast to the high ideals we have inherited and to continue reporting transparently and accurately."

World Bank Country Director, Peter Harrold, said Sri Lanka has been a leader in South Asia on attempts to integrate environmental concerns into the development planning process.

"Sri Lanka led the Asian region in preparing a National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) which was the country's plan for sustainable development in 1992."

The NEAP has been updated on three occasions to reflect the emerging country's developments and the commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

"Ensuring environmentally sustainable development is yet a challenge though significant strides have been made."

The Yale Sustainability Index 2005, which compares the economic growth of countries with their environmental sustainability, indicates that Sri Lanka's economic growth may not be environmentally sustainable."

He also said Sri Lanka's long term economic growth will be threatened if this trend continues, "Sri Lanka, therefore, has to make renewed efforts to achieve MDG 7, which is ensuring environmental sustainability in the development process. While the Government is taking the lead in attempts to achieve MDG 7, every citizen of Sri Lanka has a role to play."

He urged the private sector, a key stakeholder in the process to look beyond short term financial gain and effectively integrate environmental concerns into their plans and programmes to ensure scarce natural resources are managed in manner where the aspirations of future generations are not compromised.

"Sustainability Reporting is the first step in identifying environmental sustainability problems that the corporate sector may face in this endeavour. While this is a creditable first step, this has to be followed by actions such as environmental audits to identify the specific concerns and steps to mitigate adverse environmental impacts have to be initiated.

The ACCA Sustainability Awards recognise organisations that report environmental, social or full sustainability information in Sri Lanka, encourage elevate awareness on corporate transparency issues and increase accountability for responsiveness to stakeholders.

ACCA Sri Lanka President U. H. Palihakkara said. ACCA Sri Lanka has presented Sri Lankan companies with an opportunity to benchmark themselves against global guidelines.

"More and more organisations are under increasing pressure from Governments, NGOs, investors and other stakeholders to demonstrate their efforts at good social management and therefore reporting the impacts, the issues and the responses become an imperative and integral part of their operations," he said.

Observations from the Judges Report stated that Sampath Bank, People's Bank and People's Leasing Company had extensive coverage of excellent community initiatives, with exception to the reporting on the tsunami and work undertaken by many organisations.

The Report also stated the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation ensured accessibility to a greater number of stakeholders by publishing its report in three languages.

However, organisations were encouraged to broaden their reporting and improve the quality. "They should be mindful that sustainability reporting is more strategic than merely reporting," he said.