Redefining the Philippine Golf Experience- Philippines

 To hardcore enthusiasts, golfing isn’t just a game, it’s a way of life. But it’s not for everybody. The cerebral demands of the sport are intensely unique in that you compete against yourself and are given time to think before you act. And like in any other sport, where you play makes a difference.

 

 

For golf, a well-designed course, which balances aesthetics with game challenge, is hard to come by, much less one that takes into consideration family-friendly amenities. This is why Anvaya Cove stands out.

Anvaya Cove is working to reinvent the traditional concept of leisure, and the development is now set to redefine the sport as it announces plans to introduce the Anvaya Cove Golf and Sports Club. Nestled within Bataan’s coastline, the seaside leisure community combines panoramic views unique to the development and raises the bar of sustainable living with its globally recognized efforts.

Unique

“Anvaya Cove is a tangible representation of Ayala Land Premier’s thrust for environmental sustainability, and holds the distinction of being our first leisure community development,” says Antonio Aquino, President of Ayala Land Inc. “As pioneers, we are proud that Anvaya Cove sets the benchmark for sustainability without taking anything away from the unique, recreational experience that it can provide for its growing community.”

Set in a location where the mountains meet the sea, Anvaya Cove offers a diverse mix of residential offerings—from a range of lot sizes, leisure townhomes and low-rise condominium units, all anchored on the tenets of sustainable leisure and complemented by exceptional amenities designed to cater to many interests and needs.

“Bataan’s unique coastline definitely adds to Anvaya Cove’s distinctiveness, and every feature within Anvaya Cove was built to Cheighten this experience,” says Aquino.

For this reason, Anvaya Cove is now extending its expertise in sustainable development and understanding of premier seaside living with the introduction of the development’s first, all-weather, 18-hole, championship course, clearly marking its potential to be ranked alongside the best golf courses in the world.

Green Golf

True to its thrust for sustainability, the Anvaya Cove Golf and Sports Club is designed to adhere to the same stringent set of sustainability guidelines that has allowed Anvaya Cove to be recognized worldwide.

It is done in partnership with Golf Plan, a world-renowned design firm specializing in sustainable golf course development.

For the golf aficionado, the 18-hole course offers an opportunity to enjoy a much-loved sport amid the grand vistas that only Anvaya Cove’s mountain or sea course can offer. Beginners and enthusiasts on the other hand, are provided an opportunity to learn and experience the game with the dedicated junior and ladies’ tees. The carefully planned course caters to varying skills and expertise ensuring a new challenge with each, and will be complemented by a driving range facility where golfers and newbies can refine their game or learn the sport, respectively.

“Beyond the majestic views and landscapes is of course the intent to give families a distinct place where they can enjoy time with loved ones,” adds Mike Jugo, Project Head of Anvaya Cove. The Anvaya Cove Golf and Sports Club is also set to offer an expansive venue for recreation that will offer something for every member of the family. These include diverse dining experiences set to be enjoyed across expansive golf verandas, top-rate recreational and sports amenities including an expansive pool complex, sports courts, game room, a gym and fitness room.

CSR approach in Oil & Gas Indonesia

Total Indonesia is involved in sustainable community empowerment and capacity building actions in the areas of education and research, health and nutrition, local economic empowerment, environment and alternative energies. These endeavours are consistent with Total’s commitment to answer the challenges of sustainable development.

Total’s commitment in the country is further exemplified through its manpower program, with an extensive plan to develop national manpower and high level national managers through training and international assignments, as well as career developments for new recruits. Total also continues to enlarge partnerships with national businesses and significantly enhance employment, which is currently estimated at 20,000 full time jobs on its industrial sites.

One of its CSR programs in East Kalimantan opens doors for local food and other products, increases the usage of local materials and also job opportunities for local people.

The CSR approach has changed over the years from giving handouts to needy recipients to giving them a helping hand in realizing their potential.

“We’ve been through an evolution when it comes to CSR. The former approach called for philanthropy, basically sponsorships. But now, we’ve moved on to the concept of creating sustainable development,” says Kusuma Adinugroho, head of the Sustainable Development and Societal Relations Division at Total E&P Indonesia.

Among the company’s CSR strategies are programs in economic empowerment, education, health, environment and alternative energy as well as cultural.

DHL – GoGreen Service

DHL was the first global logistics provider to set quantified carbon dioxide (CO2) efficiency targets and it is on track to beat its target of improving the carbon efficiency of DHL operations and its transport subcontractors by 30 percent by 2020, compared to 2007. In 2011, DHL achieved record improvements of CO2 efficiency with results up 21 percent compared to 2010 for its Express division in Asia-Pacific, despite increases in volume due to the continued economic recovery.

 

 

GOGREEN Service

GOGREEN is a carbon-neutral shipping option for customers of DHL and Deutsche Post, now available for DHL Express customers in more than 35 countries.

With the GOGREEN optional service, all transport-related emissions of carbon dioxide are first calculated and then offset through external climate protection projects.

Business customers can choose to send all or a selection of their international express shipments as GOGREEN. Business customers who use the GOGREEN service receive GOGREEN stickers to place on their shipments, as well as an annual certificate stating the total amount of carbon dioxide which was offset on their behalf during the year.

The carbon credits generated from external climate protection projects are managed by our in-house Carbon Management team. Carbon Management, all GOGREEN processes and the emissions-calculation methodology are verified annually by a third-party verifier, SGS.

Paul Graham, CEO, DHL Supply Chain Asia Pacific, said: 'Leadership for us includes being at the forefront of environmental protection and it is a key component of our business strategy with the obvious primary focus of controlling CO2 emissions and climate protection. We view climate change as an opportunity to demonstrate innovation within the logistics industry and create a competitive advantage through working closely with customers to develop greener supply chain solutions.'

Energy Development Corporation, BenCab team up for the environment

Energy Development Corporation, BenCab team up for the environment

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L-R: Lopez Group Foundation Inc. president Cedie Lopez Vargas, artist BenCab, LGFI Operations head Angela Lopez Guingona and EDC CSR manager Rei MedranoEnergy Development Corporation (EDC) and National Artist BenCab (Benedicto Cabrera) have joined hands in saving and propagating endangered premium native trees.

With the University of the Philippines-Baguio and the Philippine Society for the Study of Nature, EDC and BenCab Art Foundation Inc. (BAFI) planted 100 seedlings of 18 endangered tree species at BenCab’s farm in Tuba, Benguet recently.

The tree-planting activity is part of EDC’s BINHI: A Greening Legacy project, a nationwide reforestation and biodiversity preservation project to arrest forest degradation, contribute to climate change mitigation and provide sustainable livelihood for forest communities.

BAFI, EDC’s 97th partner for the project’s Tree for the Future module, will host the permanent planting area within the eco-trail of BenCab Museum and share in the responsibility of implementing the long-term protection, monitoring and maintenance of the planted trees until these have grown into mother trees.

Launched in 2008, BINHI is focused on bringing back highvalue but fast-dwindling native

trees such as yakal, tindalo, kamagong, mangkono and ipil.

Rei Medrano, EDC manager for CSR, said: “We source the few remaining seedlings of endangered premium native trees and grow them into mother trees in planting sites where they can

be best protected and nurtured…. These mother trees will be used to propagate more seedlings for transplant all over the country.”

EDC has already rescued 85 premium endangered tree species out of the 96 target priority species with the help of its BINHI partners nationwide, Medrano added. (By Toni Nieva)

Four in five investors consider sustainability issues – PwC survey

Four in five investors have looked at sustainability issues in one or more investment contexts in the last year, according to research from PwC. However, investors also cited dissatisfaction with current reporting standards.

PwC asked investors representing over $7.6 trillion (£4.5tn) in assets under management, including asset managers and pension funds, about a range of sustainability issues, including climate change, resource scarcity and corporate social responsibility.

The study found that investors are most likely to care about sustainability issues during shareholder-corporate engagement, proxy voting and when looking at their investment strategy, with over half those questioned having incorporated some areas of sustainability into their strategy. The interest in sustainability issues was particularly evident when investors were looking at issues involving corporate social responsibility and good citizenship.

The biggest driver behind considering sustainability issues was to mitigate risk, with 73% highlighting this as a reason. Failing to consider sustainability can have a negative impact on investors in the long term. For example, investing in a carbon intensive business at a time when the world is trying to cut emissions and bringing in regulation to do so, could result in lower returns and higher risk in the future.

Encouragingly, over half actively wanted to avoid firms with unethical practices and acknowledged that doing so could enhance performance. Some have argued that sustainable investment means performance sacrifice but in recent years this myth has been withering away, as more evidence against it has emerged.

Despite the growing interest in sustainable investment, investors are finding a lack of common standards frustrating and this is putting some of them off. Globally there is a high level of dissatisfaction around the sustainability-related information being provided by companies, with Europe being the only region were more investors were satisfied than dissatisfied.

The report states, “The lack of common standards to assess the materiality of environmental or social issues may be affecting investors’ ability to consider these issues as they want. Two-thirds of investors responding to our survey say that they would be more likely to consider this type of information when making investment decisions if common standards were used.”

This dissatisfaction is demonstrated in investors strongly supporting that companies should periodically assess multiple types of risk. Over 90% of respondents backed labour rights, human health and climate change in regards to regulatory risk being regularly assessed.
Even for the issue that received the lowest support – other social issues, such as increasing income inequality – periodical assessment was supported by 74% of participants.

Looking to the future, investors believe an increasing importance will be placed on sustainability issues and this is reflected in the fact that more and more investors want to engage directly with the companies on the challenges.

Over the next 12 months, 89% of investors that identified sustainability issues as relevant indicated they would request information from a company. Additionally, two-thirds are likely to seek a meeting with the companies’ boards or management, suggesting that investors are taking the issues around sustainability more seriously and want their portfolio to reflect this.

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Invest Malaysia - PM Najib announces liberalisations

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KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has announced new liberalisation measures to further promote investments in a broader spectrum of assets.

The Prime Minister said one of the measures was the removal of the mandatory requirement for credit ratings effective Jan 1, 2017.

He said a gradual approach was being adopted to provide industry players sufficient time to further refine mechanisms necessary to operate under the new regime.

"From Jan 1 next year, flexibilities will be accorded with regards to credit ratings and the tradability of unrated bonds and sukuk," he said in his keynote address at Invest Malaysia 2014 on Monday.

The Prime Minister also announced that the equity shareholding for credit rating agencies would be liberalised.

International Credit rating agencies with full foreign ownership will be allowed in the Malaysian market from Jan 1, 2017, he added.

"The entry of international agencies will further enhance the quality and standard of rating services, introduce a more competitive fee structure and widen both expertise and the range of credit rating services on offer," Najib said.

World Cocoa Foundation Co-Hosts International Conference on Cocoa Sustainability in Indonesia

World Cocoa Foundation Co-Hosts International Conference on Cocoa Sustainability in Indonesia
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NUSA DUA, BALI, INDONESIA, May 14, 2014 – The global sustainable cocoa community convenes in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, on May 15-16 for the Sixth Indonesian International Cocoa Conference and 25th World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) Partnership Meeting. The unprecedented alliance between conference co-hosts, the Indonesian Cocoa Association (ASKINDO) and WCF, will bring together leaders in sustainability from across the cocoa supply chain. The event’s theme is “Empowering Smallholders for a Sustainable Cocoa Industry.”

Empowering People, Changing lives program with Cocoa section