The EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce & Industry (EUMCCI) held the launch of the Europa Awards for Sustainability 2017 at the Sheraton Imperial in Kuala Lumpur recently.
The Awards seek to recognise companies that have shown exemplary business excellence in the field of sustainability and contributed to the long term benefit of Malaysian society and economy.
EUMCCI’s flagship Europa Awards returns in 2017 with a new and more comprehensive range of award categories consistent with the European Union’s sustainable development values. There are seven featured categories in total, including Best Sustainability Reporting, Best Innovation in Sustainability, Best Social Impact, Best Environment Impact, and Best Sustainability Leader (awarded to individuals).
In order to execute the awards with greater authoritative standing, EUMCCI has joined forces with KPMG Malaysia to provide the necessary skills and logistics for evaluating shortlisted companies and nominating the winners. Kasturi Nathan, Advisory Partner and Head of Sustainability of KPMG, expressed the auditor’s excitement to collaborate on this initiative for the crucial values that it promotes.
“Our role is to ensure excellent project design and execution whilst guaranteeing high level credibility and fairness in the evaluation of the companies entering the nomination process”, said Kasturi.
Apart from KPMG, EUMCCI will also work together with a number of additional partners and sponsors to encourage more meaningful participation in the Europa Awards.
“Through synergies and collaboration with our partners and stakeholders, we anticipate participation not only from EU related companies but also from Malaysian companies aiming to create an affiliation with the European Union that could be beneficial to their business and sustainability moving forward”, said Roberto Benetello, Chief Executive Officer of EUMCCI.
The Europa Awards have received the special patronage of the EU Delegation to Malaysia in the person of Maria Castillo Fernandez, EU Ambassador and Head of Delegation to Malaysia. During her formal address at the launch, the Ambassador reinforced the EU’s commitment in being a long term strategic partner for the benefit of European companies as well as the expansion of the Malaysian economy.
“In line with the values that the European Union stands for, we are happy to support this initiative to promote sustainability in the business environment. Business goals can no longer be disconnected from a greater responsibility towards the environmental, social, and cultural needs of a community. Therefore, the EU Delegation in Malaysia actively supports the Europa Awards for Sustainability”, said Fernandez.