First SAGT Sustainability Report

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - March 9, 2021 - PRLog -- Port of Colombo-based South Asia Gateway Terminals' (SAGT) first sustainability report reveals a challenging battle against carbon emissions.

Accounting for the 2019/2020 financial year, SAGT's 'Going Beyond' report shows its carbon footprint was 26,881MT, equating to 19.91kg of carbon emissions per box move, which is a 7% increase in terms of total carbon footprint and a 9.8% increase per box move in comparison to 2018/19. Investing in hybrid technology is just one way the Sri Lankan company is tackling the challenge of increased emissions.

"Once again, the company is in the process of identifying areas for improvement and has trialled a new generation of hybrid technology for its RTGs in a bid to reduce emissions," said Romesh David, CEO of SAGT. "The trial has yielded extremely encouraging results and the company has committed to introducing this technology for the majority of its RTGs, in a significant new investment over the next 18 months."

Reforestation programme

SAGT also initiated its first ever reforestation programme on World Environment Day 2019, at the Yagirala Forest Reserve in collaboration with the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, with the aim of partially offsetting the company's carbon footprint.

In addition to being a first for the company, this is also the first sustainability report (https://www.sagt.com.lk/about-us/sustainability.html) in Sri Lanka's port industry.

In 2018, South Asia Gateway Terminals (https://www.sagt.com.lk/) introduced a sustainability management framework. As part of this, the company carries out internal audits of its sustainability processes, has introduced sustainability SOPs, has undertaken companywide training and awareness campaigns, and intends to establish targets for material sustainability topics. Achievement against these targets will be reported on from 2020 onwards.

Mr David added that the framework has provided SAGT with the ability to align its sustainability drive and performance to the UN Sustainability Development Goals.