Singapore, 4 April 2022: Talawakelle Tea Estates of Sri Lanks emerged as the clear winner with three golds at the Asia Integrated Reporting Awards (AIRA) held today.

Picking up three of the six total wins from Sri Lanka, Talawakalle Tea Estates won the most number of golds for a single company at the AIRA. SalconBerhadfrom Malaysia picked up two golds, while Ayala Corporation from the Philippines picked up three silvers in the keenly-contested awards this year.

Hosted together with the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards, the Asia Integrated Reporting Awards recognise growing investor interest in enterprise value creation. The Asia Integrated Reporting Awards 2021 received 94 entries from eight countries across eight award categories. After the preliminary evaluations, 25 companies from six countries reached the finals. At the end of the evening, 12 winners picked up 21 gold, silver and bronze awards.

In her opening address, Guest of Honour H.E Kara Owen, the British High Commissioner to Singapore, said: “While we teeter close to dangerous temperature rises, the weight of momentum is moving in the opposite direction. We’re passing the tipping point of positive action to mitigate climate impact, and seeing the pace of that change accelerating, including in the private sector. So these awards are important. I encourage you to celebrate your peers and support each other. But most importantly, I encourage you to reach out to those not in this room with you, to use that leadership to deliver the change we need. If we continue to work together, exhibiting the leadership that your winners tonight have, I’m confident that 2022will be a greener, healthier, safer, and more prosperous year than 2021.”

Rajesh Chhabara, Managing Director of CSWorks and founder of AIRA, said: “Integrated reporting helps companies embed long-term sustainability into their business model. By improving the quality of information, integrated reporting allows providers of financial capital to support the efficient and productive allocation of capital.”

He added: “Investors can use integrated reports to assess the reporting organisation’s ability to create value in the short, mid and long-term. Backed by investors, the adoption of integrated reporting is on the rise by companies and market regulators worldwide. Our awardees today demonstrate best practice examples of how integrated thinking and a multi-capital approach can be applied to create value for their shareholders and stakeholders over time.”

AIRA follows a rigorous multi-tier evaluation process by an independent judging panel. Evaluation of entries involves three rounds of assessments to select the very best in each award category. In addition to assessing the report quality, comprehensive due diligence is carried out to consider the finalists’ reputation among their stakeholders as part of the judging process.

The awards ceremony was attended by more than 250 senior business leaders and sustainability practitioners from 16 countries. Attendees also included dignitaries from academia, embassies, trade associations and advocacy organisations.

To view the full list of the AIRA and ASRA 2021 winners, please visit https://csrworks.com/aira/winners-2021/ and www.csrworks.com/asra/winners-2021