AEON IS POWERING ITS ESG AMBITION VIA PARTNERSHIP WITH IIM & MGTC

Kuala Lumpur, 26 August 2022 – AEON CO. (M) BHD. and AEON BiG (M) Sdn Bhd announced their partnership with The Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM) and Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation (MGTC) as part of their continued efforts in powering their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ambition. This is part of the rolling action following the AEON Sustainability Charter (ASC) announcement during AEON1000 event earlier this year.

During the event held at AEON Big Wangsa Maju, AEON CO. (M) BHD. and AEON BiG (M) Sdn. Bhd. exchanged the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) individually with IIM and MGTC, represented respectively by YBhg. Datuk Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi, CEO of IIM; and En. Noor Azmin Azali Bin Ramli, Senior Director of Legal and Secretarial of MGTC.

AEON CO. (M) BHD. was represented by Azli Mohamed, Chief Ventures and Sustainability Officer and AEON BiG (M) Sdn. Bhd. represented by its Managing Director, Sheikh Farouk Sheikh Mohamed during the MoC handover session.

At the event, Azli Mohamed also revealed the specific details of AEON Sustainability Charter (ASC). The ASC will also be made publicly available by the end of the year via AEON’s corporate website.

Naoya Okada, Deputy Managing Director (Business), AEON CO. (M) BHD. commented that “This cooperation is critical to AEON’s businesses in the long run as we have the largest Net Lettable Area (NLA) in Malaysia. Therefore, we need to ensure that we have an energy efficient unit area and a structured governance architecture in securing operational integrity.

Meanwhile Tsugutoshi Seko, Deputy Managing Director (Corporate), AEON CO. (M) BHD. said, “We aim to grow our business in tandem to the sustainability direction expected from the society and AEON as a whole. We believe ESG integration in businesses is crucial to protect our enterprise value and improve our ESG risk management.”

AEON’s MoC with IIM is aimed at enhancing the area of corporate governance, integrity and transparency in their operations. According to Datuk Wan Suraya, IIM will be collaborating with AEON BiG (M) Sdn. Bhd. and AEON CO. (M) Bhd., through various programs and initiatives to enhance governance and integrity in AEON’s ESG framework in tandem with the AEON Sustainability Charter. IIM is an agency set up by the Government to facilitate and assist in developing the capabilities and capacity of the public and private sectors on governance and integrity.

The MoC with MGTC entails scopes covering energy efficiency and greenhouse gas management. AEON acknowledged climate change as a business issue and worked towards mitigating climate-related risk. AEON aims to improve its operation by adopting energy efficient measures while increasing renewable energy consumption where possible.

This initiative is in line with AEON’s effort to champion the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) through Responsible Consumption And Production (SDG 12) which is to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns; Climate Action (SDG 13) in taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts; Peace, Justice And Strong Institution (SDG16) to build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels; and Partnership for the Goals (SDG17) where we strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.