“We believe that sustainability must be central to what we do for our businesses, and the communities in which they operate, to thrive in the long term.”
“We believe that sustainability must be central to what we do for our businesses, and the communities in which they operate, to thrive in the long term.”
Social unrest in Hong Kong and global trade tensions during 2019, particularly in the second half of the year, created serious challenges for our businesses. Despite these challenges, sustainability remained a strategic objective for Swire Pacific. We believe that sustainability must be central to what we do for our businesses, and the communities in which they operate, to thrive in the long term.
Swire Pacific has always taken, and will continue to take, a long-term perspective on how we run our business. Sustainability is very much part of that way of thinking.
In 2019, we made progress in several important elements of our group sustainable development strategy. We outperformed our carbon reduction target by 1.83%. In addition, Swire Pacific published a climate change policy which highlighted the importance of future climate risk and resilience. We also developed our diversity and inclusion strategic framework with three goals, five diversity focus areas and a five-year plan. At the operating company level, Swire Properties announced a carbon reduction target which was approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. Cathay Pacific improved its fuel efficiency by 2%, compared with an aviation industry commitment of 1.5%.
We also demonstrated our determination to play a full part in the creation of a circular economy in Hong Kong, with Swire Coca-Cola’s announcement of the city’s first major plastic waste recycling facility, to be operated in joint venture with our partners ALBA and Baguio Waste Management.
We made good progress in 2019, but we must do better and be more resilient in the face of increasing, complex, sustainability challenges. We intend to set ambitious carbon, water, waste and diversity and inclusion targets.
We remain committed to a sustainable approach to business. We need to think deeply and creatively about decarbonisation, water conservation and waste reduction and recycling. We must respond to sustainability challenges in a way which creates value for our shareholders, for our people, for those with whom we engage in business and for the communities in which we operate. I look forward to sharing our progress with you in future reports.