235 Capitaland Properties Participating in Earth Hour 2012 the Group’S Wear Less Day Initiative Expands Beyond Singapore to Asia and Europe
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For Immediate Release 23 March 2012 NEWS RELEASE 235 CapitaLand properties participating in Earth Hour 2012 The Group’s Wear Less Day initiative expands beyond Singapore to Asia and Europe Singapore, 23 March 2012 – CapitaLand Limited is pleased to announce that 235 of the Group’s properties across Asia and Europe will be participating in Earth Hour on Saturday, 31 March 2012. This includes countries such as Singapore, China, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. This is the fifth year that the Group is participating in the annual global sustainability movement to show commitment towards protecting the environment since many other cities globally adopted the event in 2008. To further generate awareness on climate change, CapitaLand is also expanding its Wear Less Day beyond Singapore to Asia and Europe on the eve of Earth Hour 2012. For the third consecutive year, CapitaLand will be turning off façade lights and non-essential lighting at its participating properties for extended hours throughout the night, beginning 8.30pm (local time) on Saturday, 31 March 2012. Emergency lighting and security systems will function normally to ensure that safety and security are not compromised. In Singapore, more than 30 CapitaLand office buildings, serviced residences and CapitaMalls will be taking part in Earth Hour 2012. Participating properties include ION Orchard, Raffles City, The Atrium@Orchard, CapitaGreen, Capital Tower, Six Battery Road and Ascott Raffles Place Singapore. In particular, CapitaMalls Asia is organising its “Bring Your Own Shopping Bag” campaign in Singapore to encourage shoppers to save the environment by bringing their own reusable shopping bags while enjoying STAR$ rewards with a minimum purchase. In China, CapitaMalls Asia has planned a series of exciting activities leading up to Earth Hour 2012 to draw shoppers and rally them towards the environmental cause. The line-up includes ‘live’ unplugged performances at CapitaMall Wangjing, Beijing; “Add a Tint of Green for Mother Earth” tree-planting campaign; “I Was Formerly A Big Tree” exhibition at four CapitaMalls where works of art created out of used disposable chopsticks will be displayed; and a 100-metre ‘green graffiti wall’ at CapitaMall Peace Plaza, Dalian, where shoppers can express their support towards the environment through creative drawings. 1 Wear Less Day expands to Asia and Europe Wear Less Day was inaugurated in Singapore last year as an extension of CapitaLand’s commitment towards Earth Hour. CapitaLand staff and participating tenants in Singapore were encouraged to “wear less” while air-conditioning temperatures are turned up to conserve energy. Studies show that every 1°C increase in temperature can save up to 3% of energy used for air-conditioning. With Wear Less Day ’s expansion to Asia and Europe, the initiative will take a twist this year with the inception of Wear More Day , where staff and tenants weathering cold climate during this period in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, will be encouraged to “wear more” as heater temperatures at participating properties in the country are turned down in a bid to conserve energy. Interestingly, in Vietnam, participants in Hanoi will be “wearing more” while those at Ho Chi Minh City will be “wearing less” due to climate differences. In Singapore, a Wear Less Day photo contest will be held from 30 March to 8 April 2012. Details of this contest will be posted on the Facebook page of CapitaLand’s green mascot, CapitaFrog (www.facebook.com/CapitaFrog). To further its commitment towards the environment, CapitaLand will be organising Wear Less Day at all CapitaLand corporate offices in Singapore on the first Friday of each month from 6 April 2012. Ascott, CapitaLand’s wholly-owned serviced residence unit, has also been encouraging staff and guests to “wear less” and “wear more” during its monthly Earth Day. This is part of Ascott’s global sustainability drive as it strives to become the world’s leading green serviced residence company. Mr Francis Wong Hooe Wai, Chairman of CapitaLand’s Green Committee, said: “Wear Less Day was initiated last year as a fun and meaningful way of engaging our staff and tenants to play their part for the environment. What started off as a simple initiative to rally CapitaLand’s staff and tenants in Singapore to conserve energy and make a stand against climate change has expanded to Asia and Europe this year. With its widened geographical reach, CapitaLand is also organising Wear More Day this year, catering to countries experiencing cold weather during this period of the year. This attests to the fact that no initiative is too simple or too small to create greater awareness and inspire organisations and individuals to contribute towards environmental sustainability.” CapitaLand understands the importance of the role that the wider community has to play as the end-users of its buildings. CapitaLand’s participation in Earth Hour is part of the Group’s Building A Greener Future Programme to encourage stakeholders and the public to play a role in protecting the environment. This is also supported by the Because iCare group-wide initiative launched in February 2012. More on CapitaLand’s commitment towards sustainability can be found in Appendix A and a complete list of participating CapitaLand properties for Earth Hour 2012 is available in Appendix B. 2 About CapitaLand Limited CapitaLand is one of Asia’s largest real estate companies. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, the multi-local company's core businesses in real estate, hospitality and real estate financial services are focused in growth cities in Asia Pacific and Europe. The company's real estate and hospitality portfolio, which includes homes, offices, shopping malls, serviced residences and mixed developments ,spans more than 110 cities in over 20 countries. CapitaLand also leverages on its significant asset base, real estate domain knowledge, financial skills and extensive market network to develop real estate financial products and services in Singapore and the region. The listed entities of the CapitaLand Group include Australand, CapitaMalls Asia, CapitaMall Trust, CapitaCommercial Trust, Ascott Residence Trust, CapitaRetail China Trust, CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust and Quill Capita Trust. About Because iCare CapitaLand launched its year-long Because iCare campaign in February 2012. Because iCare reinforces CapitaLand’s ‘Building People’ credo and strengthens its commitment towards the people it builds and the people it builds for. Through this year-long campaign, business units across the Group will ramp up its efforts to engage and care for its stakeholders including homebuyers, shoppers, shopping mall and office tenants, serviced residence guests, investors, partners, employees and the community-at-large. Because iCare is characterised by three calls-to-action - ‘We Care. We Save.’ which focuses on CapitaLand’s commitment to increase environmental awareness through green properties and eco-initiatives, and conserving wildlife through the Group’s role as the Presenting Sponsor and Conservation Donor of the Giant Pandas Collaborative Programme; ‘We Care. We Share.’ which focuses on various tenant-, customer- and employee-focused initiatives; and ‘We Care. We Give.’ which sheds light on the corporate social responsibility efforts driven by CapitaLand Hope Foundation, the Group’s philanthropic arm as well as local and overseas staff volunteerism programmes. For more information on Because iCare , please visit www.capitaland.com/becauseicare. Issued by: CapitaLand Limited (Co. Regn.: 198900036N) Date: 23 March 2012 Analyst Contact Media Contact Harold Woo Lorna Tan SVP, Investor Relations SVP, Corporate Communications Tel: +65 68233 210 Tel: +65 68233 205/ +65 9791 8597 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 3 APPENDIX A CapitaLand’s commitment to sustainability CapitaLand strives to be an environmentally-sustainable real estate developer and aims to be at the forefront of the industry in terms of green buildings and environmental awareness. As part of CapitaLand’s efforts towards environmental sustainability, the Group has set a long-term target to reduce energy and water usage by 20% per square metre (for all the properties that it operates) by 2020, using 2008 as the benchmark. An environmental tracking system is also used to monitor the Group’s properties worldwide to ensure that it is on track to meet this target. On green buildings, CapitaLand has set a goal to achieve at least the Singapore Building & Construction Authority’s Green Mark Gold PLUS status for all Singapore projects and green certification and above by local authorities or organisations approved by the World Green Building Council for all its projects overseas. In November 2011, CapitaLand Group more than doubled the geographical reach of the ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification of its Environmental, Health and Safety Management System, to cover properties in 11 countries across Asia and Europe. This ensures that the Group develops and operates its properties in an environmentally sustainable and safe manner. CapitaLand’s robust sustainability framework has also been recognised by various international accolades. In 2011, CapitaLand retained its inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index 2011/2012