Sustainability, ESG & Corporate Responsibility
View all(25)📈 Link Natural & Sri Dalada Maligawa Launch Health Initiative for Kandy Esala Perahera Performers
Link Natural, through its brand Samahan, partnered with the Media and Special Projects Bureau of the Sri Dalada Maligawa to launch the "Samahan Arakshawe Pelahera" health and wellness initiative. • Target Audience: Supporting over 1,000 traditional performers, including dancers, drummers, torchbearers, and elephant handlers, during the 10-day Kandy Esala Perahera festival. • Services Provided: Designated wellness stations serve hot Samahan drinks before and after performances to counter physical exertion, humid weather, and open-flame heat. • Medical & Relief Support: Volunteers and medical personnel from the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society provide health guidance and first-aid assistance. • Product Assistance: Link Natural provided MuscleGuard and CrampGuard topical products to assist performers with muscle fatigue and exertion.
📈 Parliamentary Roundtable Advances Talks on Financing Sri Lanka's Care Economy
• Key Challenge & Economic Impact: Unpaid care responsibilities exclude nearly 75% of working-age women from Sri Lanka's labor force. According to the ILO, every $ 1 invested in the local care sector generates a return of US$ 7.76, making care economy investment a key economic growth driver. • High-Level Initiative: The Women's Parliamentary Caucus (WPC) and Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) convened Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne, and Minister Saroja Paulraj to embed gender-responsive budgeting into national fiscal allocations. • Strategic Focus Areas: • Direct investment in care infrastructure, early childhood development, eldercare, and social protection mechanisms. • Legislative reforms for workplace protections and fair work standards. • Integration of the care economy into national economic policy and accounting framework. • Civil Society & Policy Recommendations: Fund regular time-use surveys to quantify unpaid care, institutionalize funding for assistive devices, launch pilot after-school programs for low-income schools, and scale up nationwide eldercare center pilots.
🌱 Shift from Compliance to Brand Equity Needed for Sri Lankan Businesses
Sri Lankan companies are being urged to move beyond mandatory sustainability reporting under SLFRS S1 and S2 and leverage Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies to build brand value and stakeholder trust. • Strategic Alignment: Organizations are encouraged to view ESG not just as a regulatory disclosure exercise, but as a core business strategy to drive brand equity, employer branding, and long-term competitive advantage. • Communication Gap: Considerable resources are currently invested in sustainability, but efforts often end at report publication without authentic public and stakeholder engagement. • Stakeholder Demands: Modern investors, customers, and partners look beyond financial metrics to evaluate how companies manage social and environmental risks. • Capacity Building: Industry discussions, including the recent "From Compliance to Brand Equity" workshop by FireCircle by G, highlight a growing demand among finance, marketing, and leadership professionals to integrate ESG performance into corporate brand strategy.
Allianz Lanka Drives Women’s Leadership via WIL Branch Engagement 2026 📈
• Event Focus: Allianz Lanka’s Women in Leadership (WIL) Employee Resource Group hosted its third consecutive branch engagement program themed _"Lead. Inspire. Empower."_ to support female career development and corporate leadership. • Participation: Gathered over 35 female employees from Colombo and Western Zone branches for professional networking and skill building. • Key Insights: Guest speaker Manori Unambuwe (Founder/CEO of Accentae Consulting, VP at IronOne Technologies, ex-Ambassador) shared guidance on resilience and career progression drawing from over 20 years in global tech leadership. • Skill Building: Charitha Bandara (Head of Sales Learning Academy) delivered interactive training on personal and professional growth strategies. • Corporate Context: Allianz Insurance Lanka Ltd is a subsidiary of Munich-based global insurance & asset management leader Allianz SE.
🚨 Sri Lanka Mobilizes Youth Network for Early Disaster Preparedness
To shift focus from crisis relief to early disaster preparedness, over 100 Sri Lankan youth leaders participated in a national simulation exercise, The Resilience Lab: Local Youth Action in Crisis Response, held in Maharagama to mark International Youth Day. Organized by the UNFPA, National Youth Services Council (NYSC), and Youth Affairs Ministry, the program aimed to empower young leaders as first responders and active communicators before emergencies strike. National Context & Capacity: • According to 2024 Census data, Sri Lanka’s youth population (aged 15–29) stands at ~4.78 million (approx. 22% of total population). • The government holds a widespread network of around 14,000 Youth Clubs under NYSC, reaching over 280,000 young people nationwide. • Focus is on community-level mobilization, early warnings, and inclusive response targeting vulnerable groups (elderly, disabled, pregnant women). Crisis Impact & Key Priorities: • Highlights lessons learned from recent events like Cyclone Ditwah, which affected 2.2 million people, caused over 600 deaths, and damaged nearly 115,000 homes. • Integrates critical social aspects into emergency scenarios, including sexual and reproductive health, gender considerations, and protection. • Executed with technical support from the Disaster Management Centre, Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, and Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka.
📉 Sri Lanka's Apparel Sector Advances Disability Inclusion via "Inclusive Threads" Pledge
• Key Initiative: 13 leading apparel companies signed a voluntary pledge under the "Inclusive Threads" initiative—a joint effort by the International Labour Organization (ILO), International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF), supported by the Australian Government. • Core Commitments: Signatories pledged to adhere to 8 core principles focused on protecting rights, preventing discrimination, ensuring reasonable workplace accommodations, and promoting equal employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in the apparel & textiles sector. • Economic & Social Impact: - Shifts disability inclusion from a welfare perspective to an economic empowerment model. - Reached 17,000+ households through community outreach. - Modernized training at 3 state vocational institutes and provided sign language training to over 140 industry personnel. - Facilitated factory-based internships and 12 formal job placements through district-level job fairs. • Participating Companies: Brandix, Hirdaramani, Filotex Lanka, Inqube Global, Maliban Wovens, Martex M F G, Miami Clothing, Original Apparel, Q Collection, Sumithra Garments, Sun Queen Apparel, Vogue Tex, and Winterquilts.
📈 ADB & Govt Launch SUWERP for Highland Watershed Protection
• Key Initiatives & Framework • Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Government advance Sri Lanka Upper Watershed Ecological Restoration Program (SUWERP). • Establishes Upper Watershed Management Authority (UWMA) following Cabinet approval in June 2026. • Launches Climate Action and Nature Positive Investment (CANOPI) Fund for long-term capital. • Environmental Assessment & Drivers • Major threats identified: severe soil erosion, degraded water quality, and pesticide contamination. • Tea plantations and vegetable plots generate average topsoil loss of 1.2 tons/ha annually; unmanaged bare lands suffer highest erosion. • Highest erosion concentrated in Welimada–Nuwara Eliya hotspot; river flow peaks in December. • Water testing across 21 locations breached safe drinking limits at 13 sites due to high aluminum, iron, and chemical pesticides. • Economic Proposals & Funding Models • Proposed 1% levy on energy and water sectors could raise ~Rs 23 Bn annually. • Reinvesting Rs 9 Bn can employ 10,000 workers at Rs 75,000/month for restoration. • Incorporates 20 Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) to leverage workforce and management capacity. • Uses Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and shadow pricing to lower Rantambe Reservoir siltation by 3x to 5x.
📈 HSBC Scales Up Beira Lake Clean Waterways Program
HSBC Sri Lanka expanded its Clean Waterways public-private partnership with the Beira Lake Restoration Task Force to drive community action and foster a blue-green economy. • First Phase Impact: The initial solar-powered boat retrieved over 21 tonnes of wet garbage and floating debris from 'Maha Beira Lake' during its first 7 months. • Operational Expansion: Introduced a second zero-emission, solar-powered waste collection boat in 'Kuda Beira' (near Gangaramaya Temple) to intercept debris at source and expand daily collection capacity. • Nature Literacy Component: Partnered with A-PAD SL to train 25+ university students via a 'Youth Guardians model', target 1M+ people through awareness drives, achieve 2M+ media reach, and monitor water quality and waste reduction. • Green Enterprise & Youth Empowerment: Partnered with British Council to deliver skill-building and financial literacy using the Inclusive Economic Empowerment framework: • 500+ youth reached via outreach. • 250 youth completing core skills, financial literacy, and career counselling. • 60+ youth directed to green enterprise pathways. • 140+ youth prepared for job-readiness in the blue-green economy.
Govt Steps Up Actions Over Forced Labour Risks in Southern Tea Sector ⚠️
• Overview: The Labour Ministry told the Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) that awareness and enforcement measures have been launched to address forced labour risks in the Southern Province's tea smallholder sector. • Background: Action follows an Amnesty International report highlighting forced labour concerns. Under Sri Lanka’s Penal Code, forced labour is a criminal offence. • Capacity Building: Supported by the ILO, the initiative trained 30 master trainers, who subsequently trained ~250 officials from the Police, Department of Labour, and Foreign Affairs Ministry. • Key Risk Indicators: Practices identified include withholding certificates/IDs, delayed or partial wage payments, and restricting job mobility—creating conditions where workers feel trapped to recover unpaid wages. • Market & Trade Impact: Officials emphasized supply-chain compliance to safeguard export access, particularly to the US. Labor-intensive agricultural sectors like tea face higher scrutiny compared to automated manufacturing like apparel & textiles. • Mechanism: Government is institutionalizing customs enforcement and export/import declaration verification under the Director General of Commerce to satisfy international compliance standards.
🌿 Biodiversity Action Forum 2026: Driving Sri Lanka's Nature-Positive Economy
Biodiversity Sri Lanka will host the Biodiversity Action Forum 2026 on August 25 at Shangri-La Colombo. Moving beyond technical sessions, the event aims to translate ecosystem health into a strategic business asset for long-term economic growth, supply chain resilience, and private sector competitiveness. • Strategic Focus & Key Highlights: - Positions biodiversity as a key driver for investment, productivity, and risk mitigation across agriculture, tourism, finance, manufacturing, and exports. - Keynote speeches by Dr. Saurabh Kumar (CII-ITC) and Rohan Pethiyagoda on integrating nature-positive strategies into corporate governance. • Three Core Business Conversations: - The Next Wave of Blue Growth: Harnessing marine resources through sustainable investments, blue finance, and coastal resource management. - Safeguarding the Central Highlands: Protecting montane ecosystems as critical national infrastructure, featuring leaders from plantation management (Hayleys Plantations) and ADB. - Investing, Disclosing & Competing: ESG reporting, nature-positive finance, and corporate governance with insights from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, KPMG, and Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC. • Actionable Outcomes: - Formulating the Biodiversity Action Agenda 2026 in partnership with Verité Research to establish measurable, joint private-sector initiatives over the next 12 months. - Sponsored by major economic players including Dilmah Ceylon Tea, Hatton National Bank, Cleantech, CDB Finance, DIMO, and Hayleys Plantations.
🏨 Browns Hotels & Resorts Launches Free Learning Academy to Boost Tourism Workforce
Browns Hotels and Resorts (BHR) has launched the Browns Hotels and Resorts Learning Academy at The Eden Beruwala to address skill shortages and upskill youth in the tourism & hospitality sector. • Program Overview: The academy debuted on 14 August 2026 with an inaugural 60-day (360-hour) TVEC-approved NVQ Level 03 – Hotel Operation Multitasker Programme. • Target & Investment: Offered at no cost to selected local youth, combining structured classroom learning with practical exposure at BHR's flagship 5-star property. • Career Pathways: Successful graduates gain opportunities for employment consideration across BHR’s 15 hotel properties nationwide, driving regional youth employment and capacity building for Sri Lanka's growing tourism industry.
📈 APAC Leaders Convene in Colombo for Sustainable Business Growth
• Event Overview Over 200 business leaders, policymakers, UN representatives, and sustainability experts gathered in Colombo on August 11–12 for Forward Faster Now APAC 2026. Hosted by Global Compact Network Sri Lanka and organized by the UN Global Compact APAC Hub in collaboration with 14 country networks across 16 regional nations, the event focused on driving private sector leadership for sustainable and inclusive economic growth. • Core Focus Areas To combat climate risks, geopolitical uncertainty, and technological disruption, participants explored practical approaches in key focus areas: • Climate action & water resilience • Sustainable finance & circular economy solutions • Digital innovation & governance & accountability • Gender equality & business & human rights • Strategic Collaboration & Implementation The forum emphasized that cross-sector partnerships—connecting businesses, governments, investors, and civil society—are vital to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), building resilient supply chains, and boosting long-term regional competitiveness. • Key Side Initiatives An in-person session of the APAC Chief Sustainability Officers Peer Learning Group convened 20 CSOs from prominent regional firms. The year-long initiative aims to break down functional silos and embed sustainability directly into core business operations.