The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) last night honoured nine companies for their leadership role in sustainability innovations and operations.
At a gala dinner at the Grand Hyatt, Singapore’s Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck presented awards in the categories of Sustainable Business and Green IT to local firms which have shown innovation in their long-term strategies to address sustainability.
In his keynote speech, Mr Teo said business leaders can no longer afford to ignore sustainability as a central factor in their companies’ long-term competitiveness and that opportunities were growing rapidly in the clean technology industries as a result of this increased awareness.
He also urged Singapore’s sustainable business community to use the newly launched Singapore Sustainability Alliance (SSA) to take advantage of green growth opportunities.
SSA is an SBF-led alliance aimed at coordinating and optimising the clean tech efforts of business, government and academia. SSA members represent a broad range of industry sectors including renewable energy, green building, sustainable manufacturing, water management and waste management. Recently SSA became the first Asian organisation to join the International Cleantech Network, a network of leading cleantech clusters from around the world.
SBF, supported by the Economic Development Board (EDB), will use the alliance to promote Singapore clean tech companies locally and internationally, fast-track commercialisation of sustainability solutions and facilitate international technology sharing.
SBF chairman Tony Chew said, “The Singapore Sustainability Alliance together with (SBF’s) Sustainability Development Business Group has evolved into a holistic network to advance Singapore’s status as a hub for sustainability practices.”
In line with SBF’s goal of advancing the country’s sustainability status, last night’s awards were recognition of the recipients’ commitment to a green economy. “We hope that their achievements will encourage more enterprises to establish viable practices towards green solutions,” said Mr Chew.
The winners of the Sustainable Business enterprise awards were international logistics company DHL, Singapore-based environment industries company Sembcorp Industries and industrial developer JTC Corporation. Winning awards for SMEs were industrial packaging firm Greenpac , Rigel Technology, which specialises in sanitation technology, and Siloso Beach Resort, an award-winning eco-friendly hotel.
In addition, achievements of excellence in the Sustainable Business category were awarded to Sony Electronics Asia Pacific and Veolia Environmental Services.
Greenpac chief executive Susan Chong told Eco-Business in an interview that the company provided economic and environmental benefits to customers through careful design that makes packaging less wasteful, but also better suited to products. She added that Greenpac had to be creative in looking for ways to reduce costs, as few companies were currently willing to pay extra for eco-friendly packaging.
Kelvin Ng, executive director of Siloso Beach Resort, said his company was benefitting from the public’s growing interest in sustainable travel. Corporate customers are also taking note of the resort’s eco-friendliness, he added, and often send staff members on one of the eco-tours to show that even smaller companies are capable of pursuing sustainability.
Winners of the Green IT enterprise awards were eBus Media Networks, Tak System Integration and the National Library Board.
GreenPost, which is a one-stop portal for electronic bill payment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Technologies Electronics and Resorts World at Sentosa were all presented with achievements of excellence.
Tak System Integration, a firm that helps its international client base make their IT systems more efficient, has shifted its approach to provide a more complete service. Managing director Christopher Tan told Eco-Business that the company partners with other experts to help clients improve energy efficiency not just in IT, but also in areas such as manufacturing equipment, lighting and air-conditioning.
The company focuses on the cost savings of sustainability measures, because as Mr Tan said, finance officers will only agree to spending if they are shown how it will save them money in the long run. “We practice these efforts ourselves, so it’s very easy to sell this to our clients, that they should go green,” he said.
One of his affiliate companies, consulting firm One Energy Holdings, takes the same approach. One Energy managing director Heng Yih Jer, said that his company looks for efficiency products with high returns on investments that can quickly convert spending into savings. “Within a year or two you get back your capital investments, and the remaining years you get pure profits,” he noted.
The winners were chosen from among 68 companies by a panel of judges led by KPMG, Frost & Sullivan and IBM.
