The Singapore Sustainability Awards saw a record number of 44 applicants from diverse sectors seeking recognition for their sustainability efforts. The awards, held for the fifth year, honor organizations in two categories - Sustainable Business and Green Technology - for innovation, leadership and excellence in sustainability. A wide range of organizations applied this year, including government agencies and global companies. Notable winners included Ricoh Asia Pacific, City Developments Limited, Sindicatum Sustainable Resources, and Sky Urban Solutions Holdings. The increased interest shows that sustainability is an important issue among Singaporean businesses.

1. By Narendra Aggarwal
HE Singapore Business Federation’s
(SBF) Singapore Sustainability Awards
attracted an overwhelming number of ap-
plications this year from diversified sectors
and enterprises, showing that sustainabili-
ty is high on the minds of businesses here.
There was an all-time record participation by 44 ap-
plicants from across energy, property, construction, real
estate development, infocomm, agriculture and even
government agencies seeking to be recognised for their
sustainability efforts.
The awards, which were given out for the fifth year
on Oct 8, honour organisations for their innovation,
leadership and excellence in the local sustainability are-
na through two award categories — the Sustainable
Business Award and the Green Technology Award.
“We had good quality of applications this year. There
were both quantitative and qualitative improvements in
the applicants’ for our sustainability awards this year,”
says SBF chief operating officer Victor Tay.
The momentum of sustainability development can be
felt among the business community. Singapore’s ability
to triumph over resource constraints has been recog-
nised as a sustainable urban solutions showcase mod-
elled by many global cities, he adds.
“Significantly, there was more diversity too this year
with the Building and Construction Authority and the
National Environment Agency, and from the private
sector, we had global commodities firm Olam Interna-
tional applying for the awards,” he says.
As it turns out, all three were among the 15 winners
who were honoured at the Award Presentation and Gala
Dinner held at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.
The award categories have been structured to em-
phasise corporate social responsibility and innovation to
encourage companies to demonstrate strengths in these
areas. This is to encourage businesses to pay greater at-
tention to inclusive growth while pursuing productivity
and innovation improvements to underpin the competi-
tiveness of their industries.
To ensure a level playing field, both awards have sep-
arate categories for large organisations, and small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Among the notable winners this year are Ricoh Asia
Pacific, winner of the Green Technology Award consec-
utively for 2013 and 2014; and City Developments Limit-
ed (CDL), a two-time award winner of the Sustainable
Business Award (2010 and 2014).
CDL was accorded the Top Honours award in the
Large Oganisation category of the Sustainable Busi-
ness Awards, while Sindicatum Sustainable Resourc-
es received the Top Honours award in the SME
category.
In the Green Technology Award category,
the Top Honours award was accorded to Sky
Urban Solutions Holdings. Founded in 2011,
it operates Singapore’s first commercialised
vertical farm and aims to help the country in-
crease its local food production and food resil-
ience.
A significant new development is that Nan-
yang Technological University has come on-
board as a new strategic partner.
Sustainable future
The Sustainable Business Awards recognise excel-
lence in the “adopter” community — organisations
which show implementation of sustainable practices in
the three key areas of economic, social and environmen-
tal dimensions, to help achieve the goal of a sustainable
future, says Mr Tay.
Winners in this category are exceptional organisa-
tions that have shown outstanding leadership in man-
aging the four aspects of economic (strategy and perfor-
mance), social (people and communities), environment
(management systems and performance) and value cre-
ation.
Best -of-class technology
The Green Technology Awards recognise excellence
in what SBF calls the “enabler” community — organi-
sations that provide best-of-class green technology solu-
tions, meeting sustainability needs of businesses, envi-
ronment and society.
Organisations that win in this category have shown
strong and compelling green technology solutions, while
ensuring a high level of commitment and performance to
other criteria of corporate environment responsibility,
measurement of impact and innovation.
“The sustainability agenda has advanced significantly
in Singapore in recent years,” says Mr Tay. While previ-
ously the bigger companies had pushed ahead in adopt-
ing sustainable business practices, more SMEs are do-
ing so now.
“It is heartening that particularly in the green tech-
nology space, local SMEs are forging ahead and doing
pretty well,” he adds.
The Singapore Sustainability Awards have gone
from strength to strength since their launch in 2009. To
date, the awards have seen a total of 245 applications, of
which 68 have emerged winners.
This is a significant achievement for SBF, which is
Singapore’s apex business chamber representing more
than 21,000 companies, says Mr Tay.
T
More businesses going green
Record number of applicants from across diverse sectors seek to
be recognised for their efforts
GTA Sponsor:
Knowledge Partners:Strategic Partners:Presented by:
Produced by Special Projects | Marketing Division | SPH
SINGAPORE SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS 2014
Reaching the apex of
sustainability excellence
The Singapore Sustainability Awards are an in-
itiative of the Singapore Business Federation
(SBF). They comprise the Sustainable Busi-
ness Awards (SBA) and the Green Technology
Awards (GTA).
Inaugurated in 2009, the awards recognise
Singapore organisations for their outstanding
sustainable business practices and innovative
green technology solutions.
The award serves as a yardstick for enter-
prises to benchmark themselves against lead-
ing companies’ sustainable business practices,
and to encourage companies to strive for sus-
tainability excellence as the ultimate winning
edge.
Here are this year’s winners:
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS AWARDS
Small and Medium Enterprises
• Sindicatum Sustainable Resources*
Large Enterprises
• Building and Construction Authority
• City Developments Limited*
• DHL
• DSM Singapore Industrial
• Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific
• Keppel Corporation
• National Environment Agency
• Olam International
GREEN TECHNOLOGY AWARDS
Small and Medium Enterprises
• Sky Urban Solutions Holding*
• Alternative Energy Corporation
• Clean Energy Holdings
• Ecospec Global Technologies
• Uniseal Singapore
Large Enterprises
• Ricoh Asia Pacific
* These organisations are awarded Top Honours for
being the best in their category.
The Singapore Sustainability Awards 2014 winners
with guest-of-honour Mr Lee Yi Shyan and Mr
Teo Siong Seng, chairman of Singapore Business
Federation.
First row from the front (left to right): Ms Esther
An, City Developments Limited; Mr Victor Tay,
Singapore Business Federation; Mr Venkataramani
Srivathsan, Olam International; Mr Teo Siong Seng,
Singapore Business Federation; Senior Minister of
State, Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Ministry of Trade & Industry
and Ministry of National Development; Ms Wang
Look Fung, Keppel Corporation; Mr Assaad Razzouk,
Sindicatum Sustainable Resources
Second row (left to right): Mr Stephan Schablinski,
DHL; Mr V. R. Srivatsan, Autodesk Asia; Mr Chris
Sim, Clean Energy Holdings; Mr Ronnie Tay, National
Environment Agency; Mr Gerald Ng, DSM Singapore
Industrial; Mr Lam Siew Wah, Building and
Construction Authority; Mr Mark Leslie,
Alternative Energy Corporation
Third row (left to right): Mr James Lim;
Uniseal Singapore; Mr Rohit Girdhar, Infineon
Technologies Asia Pacific; Mr Jack Ng, Sky Urban
Solutions Holdings; Mr Nobuaki Majima, Ricoh
Asia Pacific; Mr Chew Hwee Hong, Ecospec
Global Technology