News

On Aug 26, 2011, the Business Times published an article about companies staking out greener pastures through their CSR engegements. The article talked about various environmental projects realised by corporations throughout South East Asia and beyond. Jebsen & Jessen's (SEA) environmental engagement through its "Meet A Need" trip and partnership with WWF have been cited throughout the feature. Read excerpts from the article below:

 

"Corporate entities are paying it forward with corporate social responsibility programmes that percolate right down to the grass roots ... A 2008 McKinsey survey noted that 70 per cent of companies it interviewed cited 'brand protection and building' as their reasons for 'going green'.

Timberland might be in pole position, but a quick survey will find corporates doing their bit for the environment - outside of their work places: such as facilitating access to clean water in Kirivong, Cambodia; conserving the whale shark population in Donsol, Philippines, and marine turtles in Melaka, Malaysia (undertaken by staff of Jebsen & Jessen (SEA), a diversified company with seven core businesses in South-east Asia).

 

Getting employees involved in spreading the environmental message seems quite key to green CSR efforts. Forward-thinking companies like Applied Material and Jebsen & Jessen show that corporates can play a part, whether big or small.

'Improving the way people live, that's the fundamental core value of our company,' says Russell Tham, Regional President, Applied Materials South East Asia.

 

Bigger companies like Capitaland also have a dedicated Green Committee to spearhead group-wide environmental, health and safety initiatives in Singapore and overseas - since 2006. 'There is a growing sense of environmental awareness among corporations as more consumers are becoming more discerning and environmentally conscious,' notes Wong Hooe Wai, chairman of Capitaland's Green Committee.

The uptake on environmental consciousness is still slow however, thinks Heinrich Jessen, chairman of Jebsen & Jessen. 'In the mid 1990s, there was a lot of talk about the environment, and the thinking was that there would be changes just around the corner, but it's been slow going,' he says.

It's been slow because governments now have to worry more about the global economy rather than global warming. Somewhat hesitant to go public with his pessimism, Mr Jessen thinks that even if the company stopped its green programmes, it wouldn't necessarily cause eyelids to blink.

'I wonder how critical it is. Our own staff has a certain degree of interest, but I think environmental issues are too far down the ladder for people to care about,' he adds.

Not that Jebsen & Jessen is a slacker. For the record, the company started its environmental, health and safety programme in 1995, but measures were largely internal until four years ago when it launched employee CSR programmes which are both socially and environmentally targeted; partnering with World Vision and World Wildlife Fund.

Trained in environmental management, Mr Jessen led the drive to make sure the company has all the necessary ISO certifications and that it reached a degree of consistency in its environmental measures for operations. The company is also looking to become a carbon-neutral company, which is quite rare for companies in Asia, he thinks.

 

Now that its operations are on its way to becoming greener, the company has started sending its staff from eight business units in eight countries for hands-on community work. 'We're thinking of increasing the frequency and number of staff for it, in fact,' he says, adding that the idea was to create a bond between staff from different departments and countries who would otherwise never meet.

'We wanted the staff to get involved in their communities and contribute their own sweat (and blood),' says Mr Jessen.