GI is a Singaporean company specialising in Sustainability and Data Science. Established in 2006, it has a long history of working with multilateral agencies like the UN affiliates, regulators, corporates and academics. It has a global footprint, but Asia is its geographical focus.

GI offers First Mile sustainability solutions i.e. it helps companies start and accelerate their sustainability journey. It does not expect its clients to have prior knowledge of sustainability, in fact it helps them develop the same.

Almost all (nearly 99%) of GI’s shareholding is held by Singaporeans/Singapore PRs. 

SBAs are a regional sustainability awards platform created by GI in 2012. The awards were developed in partnership with PwC, who are also our Knowledge Partner.

The SBA’s main objective is to encourage companies of all sizes to reflect on their sustainability efforts and to learn from the best practices of their peers.

The SBAs are currently held in five markets namely Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Plans are afoot to expand into other markets in Asia such as Vietnam, China, India and others. An ASEAN/ Asia award platform is also in the works.

These are some of the reasons indicated by past participants:

a) Competitive Benchmarking: the awards give me a good idea of where I stand vis-a-vis peers in the country and the region.

b) Action Planning: I was pleasantly surprised to see the progress I have made in Sustainability. Moreover the SBA report provides me with specific areas that I need to focus on and helps prioritise resource allocation.

c) External endorsement by a well established awards platform creates a competitive edge when I pitch for new business.

d) Receiving such an award is a great way to convey the progress we are making in country to my head office in Europe

e) Winning such an award helps lift employee morale as it reaffirms our commitment to being a responsible business.

f) The awards platform and the presentation ceremony offers great networking opportunities with other sustainability minded companies who are looking to add to their vendors. 

g) By participating in the awards I am helping lift corporate sustainability standards, which will encourage more focus to this area.

h) Listening to corporates who have overcome challenges and successfully derived commercial benefits by implementing sustainability initiatives serves as an excellent market intelligence tool.

The SBAs are perhaps the only award in Asia that is entirely focused on sustainability, covers all aspects of it and which is conducted by a sustainability company. Other sustainability awards tend to either be a small section of an overall corporate award or tend to focus on a few areas e.g. climate, waste etc.

Participation is designed to be easy and non intrusive. Data is collected online via multiple choice questions. Descriptors are embedded to ensure that respondents have a clear understanding of the topic. Supporting documents can be provided at the respondents discretion, though it may be noted that strong documentary evidence leads to higher scores. Overall the process is designed to take 60-90 minutes. No prior knowledge of sustainability is required, nor do we need a sustainability professional to complete the data submission.

The interview is conducted selectively and focuses on clarifying the supporting evidence submitted by the respondents. No sustainability professional is required to be present.

The SBAs are designed to be a comprehensive measure of corporate sustainability and respondents are encouraged to share information across all twelve pillars. However, some companies choose to only submit data with regards to a few pillars. Assessment is done to identify winners in each pillar and also overall winners. Companies that do not contribute data across all pillars are not considered for the overall prize but can still compete in their respective pillars.

As the SBAs focus on individual sustainability pillars, they are able to transcend differences across sectors. Moreover we have customised the questionnaire to reflect sectoral differences to make the process as fair and equal opportunity as possible.

Information received during the SBA process is subject to data protection regulations which are strictly observed at all times. Company specific information or rankings are not shared externally.

GI and PwC spend a significant amount of effort in reviewing entries. The assessment fee ensures that participants reciprocate this effort and don’t leave the process midway or delay it. The fee imposed is nominal and a large component is donated to a sustainable cause in the country where the awards are held.

Please refer to the specific country Terms and Conditions on the SBA website for more information on the fees.

This was introduced at the behest of winners/ participants. It preserves the recency of the awards i.e. it prevents past winners, of several years ago, continuing to advertise their award at the cost of those that have won in the current year. The amount charged is also very low compared to the branding benefits that it offers.

Please refer to the specific country Terms and Conditions on the SBA website for more information on the fees.

Designed in partnership with PwC, the assessment process is both scientific and independent.  A specially constituted National Advisory Panel, made up of eminent personalities from multilateral agencies, academia, regulators, media, adjudicates the awards in each country i.e. GI does not make these selections.

We usually have media partners in each country to cover the awards. Given their focus, independence and quality of participation these are very well covered by media houses. We also have commenced formal arrangements for leading business publications to run special supplements covering the awards.

The Guest of Honour is usually the country’s Minister for Sustainability or equivalent thereof.

Participation covers the full range and includes the largest multinationals, financial services companies as well as domestic corporations and SMEs. It may be noted that there are separate categories for large corporations and SMEs to ensure a level playing field. Please visit our website to get more details of past winners.

Two additions are being considered namely:

– we propose to add an ASEAN award where finalists from each country will compete for regional honours

– we also propose to add a segment to reflect consumer selection of the best sustainability companies in each country. This would be derived from primary research conducted by a market research firm.

The Customised Company Insights Report covers your score with an element of peer-comparison/ benchmarking to peers in your industry and country. It also provides a deep dive into your answers, with analysis of the questions in each Pillar. More detailed insights on your company’s competitive advantage are identified, along with an outline of potential areas for improvement.

The Customised Company Insights Report shows which sustainability aspects the company can improve in and where the gaps are for each Pillar. 

Such insights on industry performance helps to identify areas for innovation to meet and compete with the industry’s top performers. The ability to easily recognize areas for improvement aids in the development of the overall business and CSR strategy for the year.

Finally, it can help you better understand how well your company aligns with the national, regional and/or international standards such as GRI and UN SDG without any extra work. This key component of the SBAs is designed for your company to streamline its reporting and CSR standards.