A+ for UMW CSR Report
UMW's A+ CSR Rating is Malaysia's First
Kuala Lumpur, 18 August 2008 – UMW Holdings Berhad today renewed its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment to the marketplace, the workplace, the environment and the community in conjunction with the official launch of the UMW CSR Report detailing its CSR activities and initiatives over the period spanning 2001 to part of 2007.
The report, independently audited in January 2008 by Bureau Veritas -- the world’s leading certification body -- has the distinction of being awarded the prestigious Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Application Level A (+) Certification for CSR reporting, the highest of their ratings.
UMW is officially the first Malaysian corporation to comply with the stringent GRI-G3 sustainability reporting guidelines.
Dato’ Abdul Halim Harun, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of UMW Holdings Berhad, said: “At UMW, we have always practised CSR – not because we have to, but because we want to – and with our recent rebranding exercise, we decided that we wanted to formalise our CSR process and take it to the next level.”
The UMW CSR Report brings together the company’s CSR initiatives related to the marketplace, the workplace, the environment and the community to provide a record of what it has achieved as well as to give focus for its CSR programme in the future.
“We are proud to be the very first Malaysian corporation to achieve GRI-G3 rating. Our next step is to benchmark ourselves against international best practices, and then to address our gaps gradually, across all our operating units. These efforts are in line with our rebranding objective of becoming a truly world-class organisation – in every sphere, not just financially,” said Dato’ Halim.
“In all our CSR activities, we constantly employ our four core values of being honourable, vibrant, unshakeable and pioneering. These tenets will guide us forward as we continue to develop and execute our CSR initiatives,” he further added.
The UMW CSR report is intended to be useful to all of UMW’s direct stakeholders – customers, employees, shareholders and the communities in which UMW operations are located – as well as to anyone who wants to find out more about how UMW approaches its social, economic and environmental responsibilities.
In today’s more transparent business climate, business organisations are expected to provide complete and reliable information for capital markets and societal stakeholders concerning their CSR activities and impact. Consequently, many companies are already broadening their horizons beyond setting financial reporting standards as they understand the importance of engaging globally with other stakeholders in shaping the future of CSR reporting.
UMW now joins this global movement towards verified sustainability reporting by becoming Malaysia’s first corporate citizen to do so.
Compared to financial reporting, sustainability reporting is still in its infancy. The first version of the GRI guidelines was released in 2000, followed by revisions in 2002 and 2006. In 2007, there was a total of 1,200 and growing GRI reporting organisations globally, with the majority of companies coming from first world countries such as USA, UK, Japan, Canada, France and Germany.
The UMW Group is an international conglomerate that develops industries, manages partnerships and facilitates growth. It is involved in four core businesses - Automotive, Equipment, Manufacturing and Engineering, and Oil and Gas.
UMW recently unveiled its new brand which is aimed at amplifying its leading position at home and organising itself for greater global expansion. It will now focus on building on the strengths of its core businesses as well as enhancing those strengths in the global arena to further tap international opportunities.
In adopting its new rallying call - Beyond Boundaries – UMW is set to play a leading role in shaping the future of its industries globally. The Company will do this by inspiring vibrant ideas, nurturing potential, pioneering partnerships and delivering excellence in everything it does; the rewards of which will contribute to the progress and well-being of all its stakeholders.
Download UMW CSR Report
About GRI
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a multi-stakeholder process and independent institution based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally-applicable sustainability reporting. It is also a collaborating centre of the United Nations Environment Programme.
GRI’s mission is to make sustainability reporting by all organisations as routine and comparable as financial reporting. The GRI Guidelines are the most common framework used in the world for reporting. More than 1,000 organisations from 60 countries use the Guidelines to produce their sustainability reports.
The performance indicators under the GRI-G3 reporting guidelines are broadly categorised under Economic Performance, Environmental Performance, Labour Practices, Human Rights, Society and Product Responsibility. The A (+) level of certification requires externally-assured reporting and disclosures involving 50 plus core sectors of performance indicators.
Note: GRI Application Level check does not represent GRI's view on the value or quality of the report and its content. It is a statement about the extent to which the GRI Reporting Framework was applied. Therefore, GRI does not certify Application Level claims nor professionally assures the quality and the contents of the report.
