What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2018 Global Sustainability Report CapitaLand identified a range of material issues, such as climate change and emissions reduction, business ethics, energy efficiency, occupational health and safety, water management. Among these, promoting social and environmental sustainability across its supply chain stands out as a key material issue for CapitaLand.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards              

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups CapitaLand engages with:

To identify and prioritise material topics CapitaLand engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Customers – homebuyers, residents, tenants and shoppers	·      Homebuyers: welcome parties, welcome kits ·      Tenants: survey, green fit-out guide, enrichment events such as Biz+ events ·      CapitaLand’s social media channels
Investors, Analysts and Media	·      Annual general meetings ·      Quarterly financial results announcements ·      Media releases and interviews ·      Annual reports and sustainability reports ·      Company website ·      Regular analyst and investor meetings ·      Responses to sustainability surveys
Staff	·      Regular dialogue sessions with senior management ·      Regular staff engagement surveys ·      Volunteer programmes ·      Recreation club activities
Supply Chain – main contractors, vendors, suppliers	·      CapitaLand’s Supply Chain Code of Conduct ·      EHS management system ·      Quarterly EHS monitoring, vendor evaluation, events, meetings and trainings
Government/ national agencies/ Community and NGOs	·      Senior management representation on boards of various industry bodies and sustainability-related public discussions ·      Regulatory readiness to support the Singapore Government’s commitment to manage carbon emissions ·      Longstanding partner to various national programmes ·      Public communications plan for residents within a 100-m radius of new developments ·      Sustainability reports ·      Participation in external conferences/ forums ·      Corporate advertisements ·      Consultation and sharing with academics, NGOs and business associations

What actions were taken by CapitaLand to promote social and environmental sustainability across its supply chain?

In its 2018 Global Sustainability Report CapitaLand reports that it took the following actions for promoting social and environmental sustainability across its supply chain:

• Promoting compliance among vendors and service providers
• For building operations, CapitaLand’s contractor management guidelines require all contractors to comply with local government and other legal requirements. Contractors and service providers in Singapore and overseas are required to submit a copy of their risk assessments in cases where their activities may affect the occupational health and safety of CapitaLand staff or visitors. Vendors and service providers are sent a copy of CapitaLand’s EHS (Environmental, Health and Safety) Policy and have to ensure that their staff are sufficiently trained or briefed on environmental, health and safety measures. Contractor house rules stipulate requirements such as deploying personal protective equipment, reporting of accidents and proper disposal of debris and toxic waste. Since 2012, CapitaLand properties in Singapore only appoint bizSAFE7 Level 3 and above certified vendors and service providers when signing new or renewing existing contracts. Where possible, CapitaLand intends to stipulate similar requirements for its overseas offices. In 2018, about 96% of CapitaLand’s Singapore corporate offices’ and operating properties’ vendors and service providers were bizSAFE Level 3 and above certified.

• Improving occupational health and safety among main contractors
• CapitaLand requires main contractors appointed for its development projects to be OHSAS 18001 certified or to engage an independent accredited assessor to conduct OHS (occupational health and safety) legal compliance audits on-site. Two main contractors appointed in 2018, fulfilled these requirements. CapitaLand also tracks the health and safety performance of its main contractors at its worksites in Singapore and overseas, and undertook various initiatives to improve the Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) and Accident Severity Rate (ASR) of its main contractors at its sites. In 2018, there were no injuries at CapitaLand’s Singapore construction sites. However, despite best efforts to ensure site safety, there was one workplace injury involving CapitaLand’s contractor staff in China. Detailed investigations were undertaken, and CapitaLand made sure that the contractor quickly completed all necessary follow-up action. Lessons learnt from the incident were shared across business units, and CapitaLand’s commitment to strengthen its safety standards was reinforced. CapitaLand strongly encourages its main contractors in Singapore to apply for the WSH Safety and Health Award Recognition for Projects (SHARP) awards and overseas main contractors to apply for accredited local safety awards.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:

1) Disclosure 403-2 Hazard identification, risk assessment, and incident investigation

2) Disclosure 403-7 Prevention and mitigation of occupational health and safety impacts directly linked by business relationships

3) Disclosure 403-9 Work-related injuries

4) Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria

 

Disclosure 403-2 Hazard identification, risk assessment, and incident investigation does not correspond to any SDG.

Disclosure 403-7 Prevention and mitigation of occupational health and safety impacts directly linked by business relationships does not correspond to any SDG.

Disclosure 403-9 Work-related injuries does not correspond to any SDG.

Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Business theme: Workplace violence and harassment
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Business theme: Labor practices in the supply chain
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Business theme: Workplace violence and harassment 

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

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References:

1) This case study is based on published information by CapitaLand, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:

http://database.globalreporting.org/

2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/

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