Banyan Tree Global Foundation formalises the scope of corporate social responsibility at Banyan Tree
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Banyan Tree Global Foundation formalises the scope of corporate social responsibility at Banyan Tree
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Category: Worldwide
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2009-08-25
Since its founding in 1994, Banyan Tree has sought to promote, embrace and uphold the idea of travel with a conscience. Formalisation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a fundamental corporate value began as far back as 2001 with the introduction of the Green Imperative Fund, and continues with initiatives over the past 15 years aimed at facilitating and creating change for the better. In 2009, the Banyan Tree Group has taken the further step of inaugurating the Banyan Tree Global Foundation, a corporatised body which provides strategic planning, governance of funds and CSR consultancy services.
Chairperson of Banyan Tree Global Foundation and also one of Banyan Tree’s founders, Ms Claire Chiang, conceptualised the idea of the Foundation partially to lead by example, and also to safeguard the CSR funds and projects undertaken by the Banyan Tree Group. Says Ms Chiang, “Banyan Tree Global Foundation is the formalisation of the CSR vehicle, which I hope will encourage companies to consider setting aside funds for a foundation. When CSR is embedded into the way companies work, its projects and initiatives will continue independent of cyclical economic downturns or bubbles. Businesses that create value for shareholders while creating value for communities are better placed to ride out tough times as they have built workforce satisfaction, reputational goodwill, brand enhancement and market following.”
Banyan Tree Global Foundation is currently based in Singapore, led by a Board of Directors featuring Chairperson Ms. Claire Chiang, Co-Chairperson Mr. Ariel Vera, and Chief Financial Officer Mr. Eddy See, and managed by Coordinating Director Mr. Michael Kwee.
The formation of a separate entity to house, manage, and administer the funds raised by Banyan Tree’s Green Imperative Fund mechanism, Banyan Tree Global Foundation provides an even greater level of assurance to contributing guests that such funds will primarily create social and/or environmental benefits for the communities in which Banyan Tree has a presence. The Green Imperative Fund comprises opt-out contributions from guests staying at Banyan Tree Group properties, which is matched dollar for dollar by Banyan Tree, and was established in 2001.
Visions and Values
As part of its outreach, Banyan Tree Global Foundation is actively organising dialogues in Singapore in its first year of operations, beginning in June with a roundtable discussion of sustainability tools and strategies attended by an invitation-only list of senior leaders of the hospitality and leisure, architecture, and academic fields. Its second event in August was a Distinguished Lecture opened to 300 members of the public. The topic of good corporate citizenship was delivered by Mr. Nihal Kaviratne, former Senior Vice President of Development & Environmental Affairs for Unilever Asia.
With a schedule of dialogues slated to take place in Singapore up to five times a year, Banyan Tree Global Foundation establishes its goal of connecting people and resources, to address and shape issues pertaining to communities, be it climate change, social empowerment or economic improvement.
The opportunities for building learning platforms do not stop there, as Banyan Tree Global Foundation turns its attention globally to share its message of incremental change and evolving responsibility. Through Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts as a hospitality operator, Banyan Tree is able to put into place not just efforts to embrace the environment and empower the people, but also to share its lessons with guests and tourism partners.
In 2007, Banyan Tree launched three group-wide initiatives in line with its efforts to be a leading practitioner of CSR within the hospitality industry:
• Greening Communities, a programme to plant 2000 trees per property, over 10 years from 2007 to 2016, to promote awareness of climate change and each of our impacts upon it;
• Seedlings, a three-phase community support programme which enhances the Group’s abilities to be an agent of social and economic development by enabling young people in the communities supporting the Group’s properties; and
• Resource conservation, an effort to systematically reduce resource consumption by focusing on energy and water consumption as well as waste production with targets of 10% reductions annually between 2007 and 2010.
In 2006, the Group published its first annual Sustainability Report, all editions of which can be found online at www.banyantree.com/csrpublications. To contact Banyan Tree Global Foundation, please log on to www.banyantreeglobalfoundation.com or email globalfoundation@banyantree.com.
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