CDL Amongst 25 Companies Recognised for Steward Leadership Excellence in Asia-Pacific Region

  • Listed in the inaugural Steward Leadership 25 for its steward leadership strategy and actions in creating sustainable economic value, and its Singapore Sustainability Academy initiative – a pioneering collaborative space to empower sustainability for long-term value creation and to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • By pushing the boundary of public-private-people collaboration for sustainable development, the initiative provides a hub for advocacy and action to tackle climate emergency and unlock new opportunities through extensive partnerships between business, government and communities

30 Nov 2022 – City Developments Limited (CDL) was recognised as one of the 25 companies on Steward Leadership 25 (SL25)’s inaugural annual listing of 25 organisational initiatives that showcased notable efforts to create a collective better future for stakeholders, society, future generations, and the environment. CDL was specifically honoured for its Singapore Sustainable Academy (SSA) initiative, touted as a collaborative space to empower sustainability.

Jointly curated by Stewardship Asia Centre (SAC), INSEAD Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, The Straits Times and Willis Towers Watson (WTW), organisations in the SL25 list were selected from 95 submissions across the Asia-Pacific region from diverse industries, including financial services, transportation, agribusiness, and real estate. Apart from steward leadership strategy, the initiatives were chosen for their actions in developing sustainable economic value.

Ms Esther An, CDL Chief Sustainability Officer, said, “CDL is honoured to be recognised as one of 25 companies in Asia-Pacific for taking proactive action to pursue and achieve stewardship purpose. This reaffirms our long-standing commitment in sustainable business leadership and driving positive impact in our ecosystem, realising our vision of ‘Conserving as We Construct’ since 1995. As the planet faces an existential challenge, there is real urgency for businesses to engage and empower stakeholders along the value chain to conserve our environment. We are humbled by the recognition for our pioneering efforts in setting up the SSA as a dynamic hub for thought leadership and capacity building to create a greater force for change towards a more sustainable future for generations to come.”

In 2017, CDL designed and built the SSA with industry partners, and was awarded the highest-tiered Building Construction Authority Green Mark Platinum and net-zero carbon building by the Singapore Green Building Council. The SSA aims to promote global climate action and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Involving an extensive collaboration with six government agencies[1], 15 founding industry and NGO partners, SSA is the first zero-energy facility in Singapore and ground-up initiative to provide a hub for climate action/SDG advocacy, capacity building, community engagement and partnership.

As Singapore’s hallmark community engagement and sustainability hub, the SSA has hosted over 700 events and trainings for over 23,700 attendees from June 2017 to March 2022. It went virtual during the COVID-19 lockdown period, continuing CDL’s community outreach through free virtual workshops in Singapore and beyond. In 2021, the Virtual SSA events reached out to over thousands of participants from over 25 countries, including Switzerland, Nigeria, Malaysia, Hongkong, China and the United States as well as through its YouTube and social media outreach platforms.

The SSA is the first building in Singapore to have its construction materials, Cross Laminated Timber and Glued Laminated Timber, verified by the Nature’s Barcode™ system as coming from responsible sources. The entire facility is built with over 80% of structural materials from sustainable sources. In addition to using sustainably sourced materials, the SSA features 3,200 square feet of solar PV panels on its roof, generating 60,000 kWh per year to more than fully power the academy. In recent years, as part of CDL’s efforts to support circular economy solutions, the SSA was retrofitted with an outdoor deck from recycled resources and partnership name plaques with recycled acrylic. The SSA was awarded the highest-tiered Green Mark Platinum and Net Zero building by the Singapore Green Building Council.

Apart from the SSA, CDL further amplified positive impact across the community through various youth empowerment initiatives such as the My Tree House’s Eco-Storytelling Contest, Youth4Climate Concert, CDL-Global Compact Network Singapore’s Young SDG Leaders Award, and partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore), amongst others.

For more information, please visit: stewardshipasia.com.sg

 

[1] The six government agencies are National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS), Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE), Building and Construction Authority (BCA), National Environment Agency (NEA) and National Parks Board (NParks).

For media enquiries, please contact CDL Sustainability:

Stephanie Chua
Manager
T:  +65 68778 400
E:  [email protected]

Teng Kai Wen
Assistant Manager
T:  +65 68778 357
E:   [email protected]

For more information on CDL, please visit www.cdl.com.sg.
For details on CDL’s sustainability journey, please visit www.digital.metafusion.com.sg/websites/2023/cdl.

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Twitter: @CityDevLtd / twitter.com/citydevltd