(MENAFN- EIN Presswire)
“We Will Be Global Game Changers, Not Just Customers of the New Economy”
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, September 25, 2024 /EINPresswire / -- Cenk Alper , CEO of Sabancı Holding spoke at the The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Annual Meeting During New York Climate Week. WBCSD is one of the leading platforms for sustainable development in the business world.
Sabancı Holding, a member of WBCSD since 2020, hosted a council dinner on September 22 and represented Turkish business at a series of events on September 23, bringing together representatives from various sectors and geographies during the same week as the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week NYC.
During the event, Cenk Alper summarized Sabancı Group 's approach to sustainability and shared insights and solutions relevant to the business community. Emphasizing that Sabancı has always been at the forefront of sustainability with all its energy and resources, Alper stated,“We can manage crises, but emergencies like climate change require us to focus all our resources and energy in one direction. As Sabancı, we add value to our community through three main processes. First, we manage the performance of our group companies alongside environmental, social, and governance (ESG) parameters. Second, we always place sustainability at the center of our investment decisions. Lastly, we aim to build an ecosystem that supports our sustainability goals.”
“WE TRACK 1,000 DIFFERENT SUSTAINABILITY DATA POINTS ACROSS 18 COMPANIES”
In a session titled“Physical risk is here: a system shift” Alper highlighted how climate events are increasingly threatening all sectors worldwide.“We are going through a period where collaboration among stakeholders has never been more critical. On one hand, we are experiencing record high temperatures while on the other, we are combating unprecedented natural events in many parts of the world. Uncertainty is now part of all our business processes. In the face of this uncertainty, being quick, adaptable, and resilient is more important than ever for all organizations. For instance, consider a tire company. If a tire company faces issues that prevent an airplane from taking off, that company must bear the entire cost of the flight. Let me provide a concrete example: A few years ago, we experienced a major flood in Thailand, and unfortunately, we could not supply materials to tire manufacturers for an entire year because our facility was submerged under two meters of water. What did we do? We established a supply chain bridge from the US to Thailand. We managed to supply materials to Thailand this way for a year, enabling all the tire companies we supplied to ensure that airplanes could take off. This process helped us avoid billions of dollars in costs.”
Alper stressed that viewing sustainability solely as risk management is one of the biggest mistakes.“In fact, the best way to combat the risks posed by climate change is to become much greener. We must transform our business models and processes with a focus on the green economy, placing the circular economy at the center of all our innovation processes. As Sabancı Group, we are moving forward with this approach today. We track approximately 1,000 different sustainability data points across our 18 companies. This year, we increased the number of products and services directly related to sustainability by 23%. Every year, at least 50% of our total R&D budget is allocated to areas that serve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In recent years, our companies have intensified their work in sustainable energy solutions, sustainable materials, e-mobility, and sustainable financial services, creating new business opportunities in these areas. We do all this not just to mitigate climate or sustainability-related risks. We do not view sustainability merely as a reporting standard. Sustainability, along with digitalization, is one of the two main components of the new economy emerging globally. Therefore, through our efforts in these areas, we demonstrate our determination to be game changers in this economy, not just customers.”
About Sabancı Holding:
Sabancı Holding, Türkiye's leading conglomerate, is a holding company engaged in a wide variety of business activities through its subsidiaries and affiliates, mainly in the banking, financial services, energy and climate technologies, mobility solutions, material technologies and digital technologies fields. Since 1997, Sabancı Holding has been listed on Borsa Istanbul, Turkish stock exchange. The Sabancı Family jointly controls Sabancı Holding as a majority shareholder, while 50.47% of the Holding's shares is publicly traded. Sabancı operates in 14 countries across 5 continents, serving more than 40 million customers and providing employment for over 60,000 people.
Yeliz Kazan
Sabancı Holding
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MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.