On behalf of the Board, I am pleased to present CDL’s
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report for 2011.
* This table lists only key approaches and is non-exhaustive.
The world economy remains uncertain as the financial turmoil in Europe continues to be pervasive, dampening global efforts to restore market confidence. In Singapore, the engagement landscape has shifted as social media played a pivotal role in the social and political awakening during the General and Presidential Elections 2011. In addition, the year saw more sustainability-related policies and guidelines introduced by the Singapore Government across various sectors, clearly signalling the Government’s growing priority in this arena.
It is becoming more apparent that companies who have yet to embrace the significance of sustainability issues have placed themselves in an increasingly vulnerable position, putting their operations at risk, if they have limited expertise and contingency plans to manage the fast emerging social, political and economic scenarios. For years, CDL has been proactively engaging the business community in sustainability matters, and we are heartened to see increased interest and acceptance from our business peers, cognizant of the need to address their triple bottom line. Hopefully with a changing business environment and mind-set, greater action will soon follow suit.
In 2011, CDL continued to leverage on our core business to set new benchmarks in sustainable development by doubling our efforts to meet stakeholders’ expectations and the global standards in sustainability through innovation, rigorous assessment and communication of the outcomes. Our steadfast commitment to embrace CSR has accorded us local and global recognition as a corporate beacon in sustainability.
STRENGTHENING THE CSR MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM
CDL continued to refine our management approach to
adapt to the changing CSR landscape and align ourselves
with international best practices. A company-wide CSR
Committee, first established in 2008, was aligned with
the ISO 26000:2010 Guidance on social responsibility,
to address the seven core subjects of ISO 26000. The
committee initiates, drives and monitors various aspects
of the Company’s CSR practices that are integrated with our business operations.
CDL’s CSR Milestones in 2011/2012
| Regional and International Achievements | ||||||||||||
Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the
World 2012 |
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FTSE4Good Index Series since 2002 |
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Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes |
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Asian Sustainability RatingTM 2011 |
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ASEAN Business Awards (ABA) 2011 |
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| Local Achievements | ||||||||||||
Building and Construction Authority
Since the launch of BCA Green Mark certification scheme in 2005, CDL has maintained its leadership in green building and has received over 50 Green Mark Awards, the highest number amongst private developers to-date, with the most number of Green Mark Platinum Awards. |
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Inaugural CDL Productivity Excellence Award for
Builders |
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Sustainability Report 2011 |
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Distinguished Patron of the Arts Award 2011 |
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Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
(RoSPA ) |
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Workplace Safety and Health Awards 2011 |
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ENGAGING ITS STAKEHOLDERS
Building trust, credibility and respect amongst stakeholders is CDL’s utmost priority. To structure a coherent and timely
response to the material concerns and expectations of stakeholders, CDL adopts various initiatives and communication
platforms on an on-going basis.
| STAKEHOLDER | CDL’S ACTION | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Customers |
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| Employees |
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| Builders & Suppliers |
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| Government & Regulators |
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| The Youths |
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| Investors & Media |
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| NGOs & Communities |
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* This table lists only key approaches and is non-exhaustive.
CULTIVATING our PEOPLE
CDL strives to be an employer of choice and create a
conducive environment which empowers, nurtures and
values our employees. More information can be obtained
in the Human Resource Review.
RISK MANAGEMENT
Since 2002, CDL has established a formal risk
management framework to enable significant business risks to be identified, assessed, monitored, managed
and reviewed regularly. More information on the risk
management framework can be obtained here.
DEVELOPING A SMART AND SUSTAINABLE
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
15 CDL commercial buildings, including Republic Plaza
and City Square Mall, successfully attained the OHSAS
18001 Health and Safety Management System in
Property Management certification in January 2011.
OHSAS 18001 is an Occupation Health and Safety
Assessment Series for health and safety management
systems to help organisations control occupational health
and safety risks. These 15 buildings also received the
re-certification of the ISO 14001 (Environment
Management System) and ISO 9001 Quality Management
systems which were first awarded in 2007.
In line with CDL’s Corporate EHS Policy, CDL is committed towards mitigating the impact of our business on the environment and striving to apply environmentally-friendly practices in our operations.
In 2011, CDL continued to monitor and drive improvements in our environmental performance across our worksites, investment buildings and corporate office.
TRANSFORMING THE COMMUNITY
In 2011, CDL continued to support and initiate numerous
cross-sector projects with developmental objectives,
direct engagement with beneficiaries, dialogues with
stakeholders for a sustained impact.
CDL’s four key areas of the environment, youth development, the less fortunate and the arts remained central in all its community investment.
Raising Awareness for the Environment
CDL sustained our commitment to raise environmental
awareness and conservation, in partnership with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Government
agencies.
A committed partner of the NEA’s Corporate & School Partnership since 2005, CDL has remained in partnership with all five adopted schools and helped them to nurture environmental interest and action through the environmental projects that each school embarks on each year for the annual Clean and Green Singapore Schools’ Carnival which attracted over 10,000 visitors in 2011. CDL also sponsored the Climate Change Photography Competition at the Carnival.
Back for the second year, CDL E-Generation Challenge drew 280 youths from over 10 tertiary institutions to CDL’s annual green rally which aims to provide youths a fun platform to foster eco-consciousness. Participating students faced various green challenges in the form of tasks, quizzes and activities which focused on six sustainability topics, namely Energy, Water, Shelter (Buildings), Biodiversity, Waste and Food. This annual event was supported by NEA.
In 2011, CDL continued to support environmental conservation by working with many partners on various programmes and events.
Initiated by CDL and our NGO partner Singapore Environment Council (SEC) in 2002, Project: Eco-Office has been targeting office workers in Singapore to adopt eco-friendly practices in the office. Through the wide distribution of the Eco-Office Kit, launch of an online Eco-Office Audit, Eco-Office Label certification and numerous awareness campaigns, some 110 offices have received the Eco-Office certification to date, a commendable number from just four awardees (including CDL), when it was first launched in 2005.
We have been supporting World Wildlife Fund (WWF)’s Earth Hour campaign through engaging various stakeholders since its launch in Singapore in 2008. In addition to 98% participation rate at 13 CDL buildings during the Earth Hour 2011, we initiated “Half-Hour Off” to encourage our tenants to turn off their air-conditioners for half an hour on Friday, 25 March in the same 13 buildings. On average, 75% of our tenants in these buildings participated in this initiative, with 100% from 3 buildings. CDL also organised awareness raising activities at City Square Mall, and encouraged our employees and their families to be part of the Earth Hour.
Other organisations CDL has engaged and supported include China Exploration & Research Society (CERS), Eco-business.com, ECOplosion, Environmental Challenge Organisation Singapore (ECO Singapore), Nature Society (Singapore) and Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA).
Inspiring The Young
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| A group of 14 undergraduate students from the Singapore Management University (SMU) at work, as part of Serve Cambodia. |
CDL believes in the importance of youth development and nurturing the new generation of business leaders.
In March 2011, CDL launched the inaugural CDL-Singapore Compact Young CSR Leaders Award. A total of 27 teams, made up of 143 students, submitted their CSR proposals on Singapore-based Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) representing a diverse range of industries. 10 short-listed teams were assigned to their respective SMEs for the short work attachments and mentored by CSR consultants who helped refine and improve their proposals. The winners were presented their awards during the opening ceremony at the Singapore Compact CSR Summit attended by some 300 delegates representing the government, business, NGOs, media and academic institution sectors.
CDL also continued our support for youth-led developmental projects in Singapore and abroad in 2011.
| KEY PROJECTS | IMPACT |
| Serve Cambodia | Housing & Education 14 undergraduate students helped the local villagers on Widow’s Colony (Koh Kor Island), Cambodia, and improved their quality of life through the construction of three houses and conducted children’s programmes comprising of art sessions, English classes, planting sessions and games. |
| Project An | Housing & Literacy 21 students helped children living below the poverty line in Ben Tre Province, Viet Nam, and served approximately 185 young pupils at the Loang Hoa Primary School, situated in the Loang Hoa Commune through building a day-care centre and a cookhouse and conducting two week-long English lessons. |
| Project Pangarap | Education CDL’s support contributed to equipment of village computers with educational tools for slum communities in the Philippines, identified by an established local NGO, Gawad Kalinga Community Development Inc. |
| Project Fei Yue | Health & Safety Partnered Mercy Relief, the Singapore National Youth Council (NYC) and the China Foundation of Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), 21 students constructed safety fences and conducted hygiene education classes for about 500 students at the Heng Miao Xiang Jiu Yi school in Sichuan, China. An 80-metre long and 2-metre high fence was erected to prevent students from falling into a deep ditch caused by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. |
| Project Young @ Heart | IT Literacy for the Elderly Partnering People’s Association and the Singapore Action Group for Elders (SAGE), 8 undergraduate students conducted IT lessons to 42 senior citizens and published a guide booklet pertaining E-services in Singapore such as the Central Provident Fund (CPF) portal, entertainment and transportation information. |
| Sit Exercise! | Active Ageing Partnering with NGOs Lions Befrienders, Filos, SAGE and Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society, a group of youths created an exercise routine suitable for senior citizens in Singapore. A nation-wide event attended by some 450 senior citizens was followed by production of exercise instruction DVDs to ensure the sustainability of the exercise programme. |
| Project Sprout | Access to Clean Water Endorsed by NYC and Mercy Relief, 18 youths installed a communal water filtration system in Da Nang, Viet Nam, to provide clean and accessible drinking water for the villagers. |
Promoting The Arts And Heritage
CDL has long been a strong supporter of local arts
scene in Singapore. We have initiated two signature arts
projects, namely, the CDL Singapore Sculpture Award
in 2002 and the Singapore Youth Photographer Award
(SYPA) in 2006 to nurture artistic talents in Singapore.
In 2011, SYPA 2012 was launched, offering new categories and exciting themes. This biennial award has evolved to cast a larger net to capture more young and budding photographic talents. Its aim remains to nurture young photographers as well as elevate the standard of photography in Singapore.
To commemorate the milestone railway land swap between Singapore and Malaysia and preserve the historical significance of the railway in Singapore, CDL’s Managing Director Kwek Leng Joo, teamed up with established watercolourist, Ong Kim Seng and presented a joint photo-cum-water painting exhibition titled “Tracking Memories” at the National Museum of Singapore.
Caring For The Less Fortunate
CDL has sustained our corporate volunteering culture
through City Sunshine Club (CSC). Since 1999, CSC has
provided a pro-giving platform for employees and their
families to contribute to the community through various
forms of support for the sick, elderly, the disadvantaged
children and youth-at-risk on a sustained basis.
In recognition of CDL’s long-term commitment in community engagement and contributions, we were conferred the Merit Award by the Lions Befrienders Service Association (Singapore). Its Befriending Programme reaches out to about 2,500 lonely seniors through weekly visitations by 1,200 volunteers nation-wide. CDL has been involved in the monthly food distribution and befriending programme since 2005.
As a long-standing partner of Assisi Hospice since 1999, CDL and its subsidiary company, CBM Pte Ltd, once again co-organised the annual Charity Fun Day held on 19 June 2011, for families to revel in a day of fun and to engage in the spirit of giving. While CBM Pte Ltd provided services in the areas of cleaning management as well as carpark and traffic control, CDL together with our sister hotels took up a 36-metre pavilion to sell delicacies.
With over 200 volunteers and a plethora of stalls ranging from delectable cuisines, handicraft, games, apparel to jumble sales, the Assisi Charity Fun Day raised over $800,000 for the expansion and improvement of the Hospice’s three core services of in-patient care, home care and day care centres, relieving the Hospice of a huge bulk of expenses especially with a rising number of adult and pediatric patients requiring hospice care.
In November 2011, volunteers from CDL participated in a unique sleepover programme at Jurong Bird Park with a group of 30 children from Dreams @ Kolam Ayer, organised by CSC as part of the club’s ongoing character development activities for these less-privileged children. The programme involved a sumptuous buffet spread for everyone, Night Walk of Confidence where the children learnt to overcome their fear as they were guided in pitch darkness by our volunteers and games. CSC also organised, for different groups of children and youths, outings to City Square Mall such as a Sesame Street colouring and green handicraft workshop.
Beyond the activities of CSC, CDL also supported numerous worthy fundraising events, campaigns and long-term projects in collaboration with partners including the Arc Children’s Centre, Boys’ Brigade, Children’s Aid Society, Asian Women’s Welfare Association, Henderson Senior Citizens’ Home, Man Fut Tong Nursing Home and Viriya Community Services.
In addition, the sale of 60 copies of the latest edition of “Heart Voyage” photo art book series raised some $300,000 for President’s Challenge in 2011. Collectively, this initiative has raised over $550,000 for President’s Challenge through the sale of the three volumes of “Heart Voyage” art book.
Total Number of Volunteer Hours
LOOKING AHEAD
This report illustrates the importance CDL has placed and
promptly acted upon matters involving environmental,
social and governance concerns in 2011. For more
detailed information on our CSR efforts, please visit www.cdl.com.sg/csr.
In an era where business growth requires much more than just large-scale expansion and short-term profitability, CDL, with 49 years of proven track record, will further strengthen the trust with stakeholders as we seek new business opportunities through infinite product and service innovation.
We continue the journey towards a sustainable future, where our business (生意), people (人) and nature (自然) grow together in harmony (和谐).
KWEK LENG JOO
Managing Director