Aisah (back row, fourth right) with the other representatives from 15 countries who received ‘Asia’s Top Sustainability Superwomen’ awards.
KUCHING: Sarawak Energy Bhd’s sustainability efforts continue to build momentum and gain credibility in the international community following the recognition given to it by CSRWorks International, a leading global organisation for sustainability.
The state energy development corporation’s long-term strategies are guided by the vision to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for Sarawak by meeting the need for reliable and renewable energy.
Moreover, Sarawak Energy’s recently-retired executive vice-president for corporate services Aisah Eden was named ‘Asia’s Top Sustainability Superwomen 2019’ at the Asia Sustainability Reporting Summit 2019 held in Singapore recently.
The annual listing highlights exceptional female sustainability leaders in Asia.
For this year, 126 nominations were received from 15 countries.
Aisah was Malaysia’s only recipient from the final 25 chosen from all across Asia this year.
Other recipients included sustainability leaders from India, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan and Singapore, in recognition for leading change through sustainability strategies and initiatives.
Aisah received the award from Timothy J Mohin, the chief executive of Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI).
Sarawak Energy group chief executive officer Datu Sharbini Suhaili commended Aisah for her commitment and role in driving sustainability efforts within the group.
“Sarawak Energy is working towards embedding sustainability into the core of our projects and operations. Under Aisah’s leadership, we have made great strides in building the systems, processes and ultimately, corporate acceptance necessary towards achieving this.
“Congratulations to Aisah and the team for this recognition of their work in driving the sustainability agenda in Sarawak Energy,” said Sharbini.
Prior to retirement, Aisah had served the company for 35 years in various capacities.
In her most recent role heading the corporate services unit, Aisah’s leadership was crucial in driving Sarawak Energy’s sustainability agenda and aligning the corporation’s sustainability reporting initiative with the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This had been endorsed by the GRI, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) that developed the widely-used framework for sustainability reporting.
“Thank you to the organising committee and judges from the Asia Sustainability Reporting Summit 2019 for this award.
“It is truly an honour to be recognised through such a prestigious and meaningful award of how a company like Sarawak Energy manages and operates responsibly to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generation to also sustain,” said Aisah.
“I believe this recognition will continue to motivate the team to build awareness of how crucial it is to have this discipline embedded at all levels of Sarawak Energy’s operations to benefit the company for the long-term future,” she remarked further.
Aisah was also instrumental in helping to build the corporate social responsibility (CSR) portfolio of Sarawak Energy, and initiated the formation of Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol Internal Assessment Team to further enhance international sustainable best practices into the group’s hydropower development.
As a champion of female talent development and empowerment, Aisah helped to form the Sarawak Energy Leading Women Network (SELWN) with a target to achieve 30 per cent women leaders in Sarawak Energy, in alignment with ‘SDG No 5’ on ‘Gender Equality and Women Empowerment’.
As part of this, she sat as the advisory panel member of Malaysia Women in Energy (MyWiE), an advocacy group out to champion equal opportunities for women in the energy sector.
Aisah was a panellist at the International Women’s Day Forum, conducted by the United Nations (UN) earlier this year.
She had also been a speaker and panellist on women empowerment at various forums hosted by LeadWomen, the 30% Club Malaysia and the Association of Voices of Peace, Conscience and Reason (PCORE) – just to name a few.
Sarawak Energy also received awards in the following categories this year – ‘Best Strategy and Sustainability Management’, ‘Best UN Sustainable Development Goals’ and a special recognition for ‘Sustainability in the Community’ at the prestigious ‘Sustainable Business Awards Malaysia for 2018’, organised by Global Initiatives.