Our Approach
Sustainability Framework
Chip Eng Seng is committed to sustainably growing our business and we recognized the growing importance of good performance in environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) issues for a range of stakeholders. We firmly believe that forging good relationships with our stakeholders is crucial for the sustainable growth of our business.
Sustainability is one of key pillars of our business strategy that underpins our value creation process. As our business in construction and property development consume significant resources, energy, materials and also employs large numbers of workers. Chip Eng Seng aims to improve energy efficiency, water conservation, waste management and to minimize the emissions footprint from buildings we construct, develop or manage. The well-being of our workers and workplace safety and health, a critical issue for the construction sector is also amongst one of a top priority for us. Our customers’ personal data privacy is paramount and have in place controls system to prevent any unauthorized exposure. Chip Eng Seng maintains zero-tolerance position against bribery and corruption and is committed to compliance with applicable economic, labour and social laws and regulations.
All these ambitions in turn support the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (“SGDs”). The scale and ambition of the SDGs require the collective effort of governments, businesses, organisations and all levels of society. Chip Eng Seng believes in playing its part to help meet these goals. Last year we had mapped our business operations with the SDGs and had identified the goals where we can make a contribution. In 2019, we continued strategic integration of the SDGs into our business by identifying specific SDGs targets to monitor our contribution to sustainable development.
The details of how our material topics support the specific SDGs targets can be found in our latest Sustainability Report.
Sustainability Governance
Chip Eng Seng’s Board provides strategic direction for adopting and implementing sustainability strategies and policies and oversees the management and monitoring of the sustainability policies. The Sustainability Management Committee (“SMC”), chaired by the Group’s CEO with the Group’s CFO as the deputy chairman, supervises the adoption and implementation of the sustainability strategies and policies and provides regular updates to the Board.
A project team assists the SMC with executives drawn from across the Group’s diverse business functions. The project team is responsible for collecting sustainability performance data for monitoring and reporting. A senior executive acts as project coordinator and works closely with the project team to ensure the necessary ESG performance data is gathered for sustainability reporting.
Senior representatives from various business functions actively contribute to the sustainability initiatives.
Materiality
We follow the GRI standards and principle to determine material topics for sustainability reporting. We conducted our first materiality assessment in 2017 to identify Chip Eng Seng’s significant impacts on the economy, the environment and society while developing our inaugural sustainability report. Senior management representatives from all business units and functions attended a materiality workshop conducted by an external sustainability expert to review and assess stakeholder concerns and the critical sustainability issues relating to our business activities.
We have continued to conduct an annual review of our material ESG topics for sustainability reporting by taking into account the sustainability trends relevant to our sectors. These material factors are included in our Sustainability Reports.
Our updated material topics, where they occur and our management approach can be found in our latest Sustainability Report.
Stakeholder Engagement
Our stakeholders include customers, employees, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, investors, local community, industry partners, government agencies and regulators. The first step in determining issues that are material to Chip Eng Seng is through stakeholders’ engagement. This provides insight into the perspectives of our stakeholders and what they deem critical in the context of their relationship with us. A good understanding of their views and opinions of our stakeholders is essential for the Company to improve our performance and to drive long-term sustainability growth of our business.
We engage our stakeholders through various platforms throughout the year to determine material topics for sustainability reporting. The frequency of our engagement varies by stakeholder groups and depends on mutual needs and expectation.
Our latest Sustainability Report provide more details on how we engage our stakeholders.
Our Performance
The table below presents quantitative data that reflects our performance in areas that have been identified as material to our businesses and stakeholders.
More performance data, including qualitative data on each of our material issues, is available in the latest Sustainability Report.
| Material ESG Factors | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental | |||
| Carbon emissions at construction sites (tCO2) 1 | 4,078 | 4,190 | 4,025 |
| Carbon emissions intensity at construction sites (kgCO2/m2) 1 | 19.6 | 24.4 | 27.4 |
| Electricity consumption at construction sites (kWh) 1 | 1,155,279 | 1,504,841 | 827,756 |
| Energy consumption at construction sites (GJ) 1 | 56,417 | 57,181 | 56,462 |
| Energy intensity at construction sites (GJ/m2) 1 | 0.271 | 0.333 | 0.384 |
| Construction waste (tonnes) | 5,830 | 5,499 | 4,631 |
| Construction waste intensity (kg/m2) | 28.0 | 32.0 | 31.5 |
| Water consumption at construction sites (m3) | 173,964 | 184,741 | 140,529 |
| Water consumption intensity at construction sites (m3/m2) | 0.83 | 1.07 | 0.96 |
| Social | |||
| Employees | |||
| Full-time employees 2 | 361 | 369 | 545 |
| Female employees (%) | 32.1 | 36.0 | 51.9 |
| Female managers and supervisors (%) | 30.9 | 34.0 | 44.3 |
| Average training hours per employee | 8.6 | 7.9 | 7.2 |
| Training expenditure per employee ($) | 275 | 209 | 320 |
| Annual employee turnover rate 3 (%) | 16.8 | 17.3 | 16.5 |
| New hires | 53 | 68 | 182 |
| Occupational Health and Safety 4 | |||
| Accident Frequency Rate (“AFR”) | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Workplace Injury Rate (“WIR”) | 148.1 | 186.2 | 190.7 |
| Accident Severity Rate (“ASR”) | 16.1 | 26.0 | 34.0 |
| Occupational Disease Rate | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fatal Accidents | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Community | |||
| Community donations ($) | 278,373 | 153,799 | 328,358 |
| Economic Performance ($’000) | |||
| Revenue by segment | |||
| Property Development | 571,682 | 828,638 | 791,951 |
| Construction | 230,394 | 169,850 | 164,405 |
| Others | 48,733 | 81,746 | 99,283 |
| Total Revenue | 850,809 | 1,080,234 | 1,055,639 |
| Profit for the year | 56,161 | 80,250 | 32,557 |
| Employee wages and benefits (including directors) | 62,688 | 72,626 | 73,563 |
| Income taxes paid | 22,257 | 5,809 | 7,403 |
| Dividends to shareholders | 24,841 | 24,841 | 25,041 |
Notes:
1. Energy and carbon emissions data includes purchased electricity and fuel consumption.
2. Full-time employees represent staff from Corporate, Construction, Property Development and Education Divisions in Singapore.
3. Annual employee turnover rate refers to Corporate, Construction and Property Development Divisions. Turnover rate for the Education Division is reported separately to ensure comparability in Employee Turnover on page 21 of the latest sustainability report.
4. Calculation formula: AFR = (No. of Injuries / Total Man Hours) x 1,000,000, ASR = (Lost of Man Day / Total Man Hours) x 1,000,000, WIR = (No. of Fatal and Non-Fatal Workplace Injuries / No. of Employed Persons) x 100,000.
Our Sustainability Reports
Sustainability Report 2019
Sustainability Report 2018
