Hayleys among first in South Asia to sign up as regional GRI Charter Member

Marking a key milestone in its efforts to engage in sustainable development and drive excellence in ESG reporting, Hayleys PLC officially signed on as a Member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) South Asia Charter on Sustainability Imperatives.

Hayleys PLC and subsidiary of Hayleys Plantations Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC are two of the first three regional Members of the GRI South Asia Charter and the sole corporate entities representing Sri Lanka. The move demonstrates an authentic, long-term commitment to adopting and implementing the Charter’s Principles to proactive establish new systems to authenticate the impact of the Group’s sustainability initiatives across the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) frameworks.

Introduced by the GRI South Asia Hub, the Charter represents a clarion call for decisive action by businesses and stakeholders supporting the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the next decade.

Speaking at a panel discussion organised by GRI and the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), Hayleys Group Sustainability Head and Group Chief Financial Officer Choliya De Silva explained how the conglomerate hoped to set a new benchmark for Sri Lankan businesses in accountability and transparency in addition to sharing case studies derived from their decade long journey in elevating their ESG standards.

“We take pride in the fact that the Hayleys Group has been committed to the standards and principles set out by the GRI Universal Charter for a decade. These standards have served as our ‘guard rails’, helping us stay on track and evolve. Each year, we strengthened how we evaluate our ESG impact, adopted newer best practices for data management and analysis, implemented corrective action regularly and proper governance mechanisms to drive change.

“Achieving excellence in ESG standards and reporting enables greater resilience, responsiveness, and responsibility within our organization. This has created value amongst our diverse stakeholders, both external and internal and built an unshakable foundation of trust establishing Hayleys as one of Sri Lanka’s leading corporates. By signing up as a member of the Charter we hold ourselves accountable to all our stakeholders, and help guide businesses and suppliers connected to the extensive Hayleys community towards adoption of global best practices on ESG compliance and reporting.”