John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) was the overall winner at the ACCA Sri Lanka Sustainability Reporting Awards. JKH also topped the Conglomerates and Diversified category, while Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO) emerged runner-up overall, and winning the Retail and Trading category.
The 15 awards presented across seven industry categories demonstrated a comprehensive coverage of the three fundamental pillars of sustainability, namely economic, social and environment and were selected from nearly sixty applicants judged by a panel of judges headed by Franklyn Amerasinghe.
In the banking category, Sampath Bank emerged the winner while HNB came in runner up, while Expolanka Holdings was the runner up in the Conglomerates and Diversified category.
Winning the Financial Services and Insurance category was Union Assurance with the runner-up being Citizens Development Business Finance, while in the Retail and Trading sector Runner Up was American and Efird Lanka.
John Keells Hotels and Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings were adjudged Winner and Runner Up in the Leisure and Connected Services and Nawaloka Hospitals won the General Services and Utilities category.
Seemasahitha Sanasa Rakshana Samagama was the winner in the SME category and Vidulanka PLC emerge runner up.
With Sri Lanka being among 25 countries globally where 3,000 entities worldwide aspire to be among the best in creating frameworks for detailed sustainability and corporate responsibility, ACCA Sri Lanka urges companies to use the methodology provided within the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) blueprint.
President of the Member Network Panel of ACCA Sri Lanka Adrian Perera, said “These days Sri Lanka is facing energy, water and food crises. While the solutions are at hand, we continue to take the easy path. For example, Sri Lanka is surrounded by the Indian Ocean but still continues to import fish products from overseas.”
“This is similar with our energy, food and water issues. Our resources are limited but due to political and other inefficiencies, we still do not have a plan of action; just stop gap solutions which we will soon run out of,” he said.