Sustainability push earns SEB recognition at awards

KUCHING: Top brass at Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) as well as the company won plaudits at the United Nations Global Compact Network Malaysia and Brunei (UNGCMYB) Forward Faster Sustainability Awards 2023 on Saturday (Nov 25).

SEB’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Sharbini Suhaili received the top award, UNGCMYB Forward Faster CEO from the event’s guest of honour, Deputy Minister for Economy, Datuk Hanifah Hajar Taib.

Sharbini was nominated for the award alongside corporate leaders from Malayan Banking Berhad, Perlabuhan Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd, HSBC Amanah Malaysia Berhad and Pos Malaysia Berhad.

Last year, Sharbini received the principal award, Sustainability Influencer Award in recognition of his stewardship and influence in leading Sarawak Energy on its sustainability journey.

Meanwhile Mohd Irwan Aman, Sarawak Energy General Manager for Sustainability, was bestowed the Special Climate Fellow recognition.

Sarawak Energy was also awarded under the Biodiversity category, and received recognition for Partnership for the Goals and for Sustainability Awareness & Employee Engagement.

In a press release on Sunday SEB described the recognition as a testament to the effort and commitment of Sarawak Energy in embedding sustainable principles and practices in its processes, a fundamental imperative required to align with global frameworks that supports sustainable development.

Sarawak Energy was the first corporation in Malaysia to commit to the 1.5°C pledge in 2020 and recently received official target validation by Science Based Target initiative (SBTi).

Commenting on the awards, Sharbini said, Sarawak Energy is recognised as an important global voice for sustainable development towards Net Zero.

“We have developed our sustainability strategy and roadmap which enables us to identify key performance areas and address gaps.

“Through the 1.5°C pledge, we are committed to setting a science-based emission reduction target across relevant scopes.

“We have also embarked on voluntary climate-related financial disclosures guided by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) for better governance and management of climate-related risks.

“This will increase the effectiveness in measuring, managing and reporting climate-related risks pertaining to Sarawak Energy and its supply chain.

“We took on this corporate transformation to bring our sustainability strategies into actionable goals and we are actively building a community of sustainability practitioners in Sarawak Energy.”

Sharbini said SEB also recognised that collaborations and cross organisational learning with like-minded organisations are essential elements to achieving these goals.

Earlier the same day, Sarawak Energy was represented at the GO ESG 2023 – the Sustainable Finance Symposium themed ‘Collective Action for Inclusive Sustainable Finance’.

Mohd Irwan was a panellist in the ‘Multi Stakeholder Collaboration- Bridging Finance, SDGs and Growth session speaking alongside Wong Chen, MP for Subang and Chairman of the Special Select Committee on International Relations and International Trade; Asfaazam Kasbani, Director of National SDG Centre, Ministry of Economy Malaysia and Mohamed Nazri Omar, Managing Director Group Corporate & Investment Banking, Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad.

The discussion centred on the role of multi stakeholders in financing sustainable form of development and the impact of government policies in supporting public-private partnerships to achieve the SDGs sooner.