Mr. Srettha Thavisin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sansiri Public Company Limited (SIRI), announced that problems related to climate change have been creeping up on us constantly and the Company is aware that this is the main problem for humankind, and not just for any particular individuals. The government, private, and citizen sectors must cooperate to help make the world sustainable very urgently.
As a leader in the real estate business, Sansiri has continuously prioritised this issue by setting business targets to create changes regarding sustainable environment, and today, Sansiri is announcing this crucial obligation to take the Organisation to being a cog in the machination to solve the environmental crisis with the target set to be Thailand’s first “net-zero” real estate organisation that has set as its mission to become the organisation with zero greenhouse gas emission comprehensively in the near future.
Many organisations and institutions have pushed for global cooperation on this important issue, such as the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) held in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021 that has reached an historic agreement to control the environmental anomalies with the target for Net Zero release of greenhouse
gases by the year 2050 in the bid to solve the global warming problems. However, for such an agreement to actually bear fruits, positive engagement has to come from every sector to seriously address the problems, particularly the global warming situation that is quickly heading towards the crisis point for all humankind. This is clearly evident globally, including the melting of glaciers and ice caps at the polar regions, heat waves in Europe, wild fires in Australia, as well as massive floods due to extraordinary heavy rainfalls in many countries. Also, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has indicated that our Earth has been releasing more carbon dioxide gas every year except for 2020 when the CO2 emission declined as a result of the global economic contraction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That said, the IEA study also showed that the level of CO2 emission in 2021 has returned to the 2019 level.
Closer to home for Sansiri and the ecosystem of the real estate sector is the overall process of housing design and the control of toxic gases that are harming the world. In this regard, Sansiri has set up the process to drive the four-prong strategy towards becoming “Thailand’s First Real-Estate Company to Set Target for Net-Zero” to leverage sustainability for business, the society and the environment. This strategy is filled with details as in the following:
- Process: Sansiri will have a rigourous and standardised audit process to create concrete goals that can be realistically achieved. The start of the process is to join the Thailand Carbon Neutral Network, as established by the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (Public Organisation). The Company will then join the Thailand Voluntary Emission Reduction Programme to support the Thailand Voluntary Carbon Market in its 9th year (TCOP9), which will help identify emission sources and assess greenhouse gas emissions in relations to Sansiri’s projects and all work processes in a concrete and measurable manner.
- Products: Sansiri is determined to develop more environmentally friendly housing projects towards clean energy use, equitable application of resources and to reduce waste as much as possible. This includes the use of clean energy at all Sansiri projects from 2021 onwards. The common areas of all new projects will feature solar roofs, while 50 percent of newly introduced Sansiri houses will have solar roofs, increasing to 100 percent by 2030. Also, street lights at all new Sansiri projects will be powered 100 percent by solar energy by 2030. (Currently, lighting at common areas in all new Sansiri projects are 100-percent solar-powered.) In regard to the Company’s executive cars, all of which were switched to EV (electric vehicles) in early 2021, while EV charges will be installed at all housing projects by 2025, and at all houses by 2030. Next is the use of environmentally-friendly materials, starting with 50 percent in 2022, increasing to 70 percent in 2568 of all materials procured by Sansiri. Also included is the move towards energy-efficient homes, that by 2025 50 percent of houses at Sansiri’s new projects will be “Cooling Designed Homes”, increasing to 70 percent in 2030. Also, all Sansiri houses must use No.5-rated energy-saving electrical appliances as well as LED energy-saving light bulbs. In addition, construction at all projects must effectively reduce waste with 70 percent of construction waste recycled and reused by 2025, including the production process at precast plants where no more than 2-percent waste will be generated by 2022. Most importantly, every Sansiri project must have a Waste Management System to reduce carbon emission and waste generation to the world. Every project must install separate waste receptacles (Waste to Worth bins). The aim is to join hands with partners to make waste separation as efficient as possible.
- Partners: Partnership with positive powers – Sansiri has collaborated with partners to learn how to set goals to significantly reduce greenhouse gas generation in order to set joint goals. Currently, Business partners that have joined up with Sansiri in this endeavour are large corporations that include TOA, Cotto, Daikin, SB Furniture, Unilever Thailand, Coca-Cola (Thailand), Siam Cement Plc., BCPG Plc., GC, etc. The Company is also in discussion with financial institutions in the preparation to offer special loans (Pre & Post Finance) with special interest rates for environmentally-friendly projects. In the future, Sansiri will encourage all partners in its ecosystem to jointly sign a cooperation agreement on “Net Zero”.
- Investment: Every dimension of investment will concentrate on businesses that are directly involved in carbon emission reduction both directly and indirectly. Initially, 500 million baht for three years have been earmarked for investment with the emphasis on business involving clean energy technology, health technology, agricultural technology and food technology. All these businesses must be environmentally responsible and society-friendly.
“Sansiri’s model will become another driver towards low-carbon industries to support Thailand to achieve the Net Zero goal that has been declared to the world community. Sansiri is hereby volunteering to conduct this mission earnestly and urgently in the three dimensions: Process – Product – Partner – Investment, with the target to realistically become ‘Thailand’s First Real-Estate Company to Set Target for Net-Zero’ through rigourous and standardised assessment process, along with the use of clean energy, efficient use of resources and environmentally friendliness. The Company will join hands with partners with positive powers as well as co-investing in businesses involved directly and indirectly in carbon emission reduction, to ensure that every Sansiri work process will include clean energy, and will be most environmentally friendly. This manifesto will help to stimulate public awareness and involvement in trying to solve the environmental crisis that everyone can participate, starting from the home which is the smallest societal unit, so as to collectively make the greatest change for this world of ours,” Mr. Srettha concluded.