Hayleys among first in SA to sign up as regional GRI Charter Member

3 March 2022 03:58 am Views - 175

Marking a key milestone in its efforts to engage in sustainable development and drive excellence in ESG reporting, Hayleys PLC officially signed on as a member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) South Asia Charter on Sustainability Imperatives.

Hayleys PLC and Hayleys Plantations subsidiary Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC are two of the first three regional members of the GRI South Asia Charter and the sole corporate entities representing Sri Lanka. The move demonstrates an authentic, long-term commitment to adopting and implementing the charter’s principles to proactively establish new systems to authenticate the impact of the group’s sustainability initiatives across the environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks.

Introduced by the GRI South Asia Hub, the charter represents a clarion call for decisive action by businesses and stakeholders supporting the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the next decade. 
Speaking at a panel discussion organised by GRI and the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), Hayleys Group Sustainability Head and Group Chief Financial Officer Choliya De Silva explained how the conglomerate hoped to set a new benchmark for Sri Lankan businesses in accountability and transparency in addition to sharing case studies derived from their decade-long journey in elevating their ESG standards. 

“We take pride in the fact that the Hayleys group has been committed to the standards and principles set out by the GRI Universal Charter for a decade. These standards have served as our ‘guard rails’, helping us stay on track and evolve. Each year, we strengthened how we evaluate our ESG impact, adopted newer best practices for data management and analysis, implemented corrective action regularly and proper governance mechanisms to drive change.”  In January 2022, the group unveiled its holistic and highly comprehensive ESG framework themed ‘Hayleys Lifecode’. The new framework sets out comprehensive standards and policies, including time-bound targets for each key area of its sustainability efforts. Hayleys Lifecode also integrates ESG-related targets and goals into business strategy across all of the Hayleys group’s 16 business sectors, with the support of its Lifecode Champions, ensuring strong group-wide coordination in achieving sustainability objectives.