ComfortDelGro Group sets up new board committees for sustainability efforts

COMFORTDELGRO Corporation, along with its subsidiaries SBS Transit and Vicom, has set up new "high-level" sustainability committees at the board level, which will be regarded with the same level of importance as any other board-level committee including the audit and risk, and investment committees.

This signals "their deep commitment towards environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues and performance", said ComfortDelGro in a bourse filing on Friday. The three sustainability committees will provide board oversight on strategic and investment decisions related to sustainability.

Said ComfortDelGro chairman Lim Jit Poh of the move: "Sustainability has become a key part of our business. ESG issues now figure in every one of our decision making processes - from basic procurements decisions to major strategic, long-term investment considerations. By introducing a board-level committee, we are making it clear that we do not take ESG matters lightly."

ComfortDelGro's sustainability committee will be helmed by Jessica Cheam, founder and managing director of Eco-Business and an ESG committee member at the Singapore Institute of Directors.

SBS Transit's sustainability committee will be led by Lim Seh Chun, who is associate provost for student affairs at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

June Seah will chair the Vicom committee. She is also head of business development of Omise Co, a payment processor, as well as a veteran banker.

With the introduction of the new sustainability committees, both ComfortDelGro and SBS Transit will now have five board committees each, while Vicom will have three.

The announcement is the group's latest push towards sustainability; it had in March announced that it is committing S$50 million to clean energy technology and research, as part of a larger push towards upping its overall sustainability quotient.

Shares of ComfortDelGro ended Friday down 2.27 per cent at S$1.72; SBS Transit closed down 0.63 per cent at S$3.16; while Vicom gained 0.46 per cent to end at S$2.18.