Green leadership unleashed
Soo Khiang and Sanjay's Story

Bey Soo Khiang

Is the Chairman of APRIL Group. He oversees sustainable development and champions alignment with the UN SDGs, global frameworks, and key stakeholders.

Sanjay Tanwani

Is the Finance Director of APRIL Group. He guides the financial strategy, leads risk management, and ensures that every dollar spent creates a meaningful impact.

How APRIL’s Chairman is Finance Director is Chairman and Finance Director are leading a sustainability evolution

This is the story of Soo Khiang and Sanjay – a Chairman and Finance Director respectively who are collaborating to implement an ambitious new sustainability agenda at APRIL Group.

Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) Group is one of the largest producers of pulp, paper and board products in the world, with plantations and manufacturing operations in Sumatra, Indonesia. The company makes products that are used by millions of people every day in packaging, printing and writing paper, tissues, food packaging, magazines and books.

 

Sector: Pulp, paper and board producer

 

Employees: Over 13,000 direct employees and more than 26,000 contract workers (as of December 2023)

 

Geography: Headquartered in Singapore, with manufacturing operations in Indonesia and sales offices in China, Indonesia, India, Europe, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong and the Middle East, APRIL’s products are sold in over 110 countries globally. APRIL is a member of the RGE Group of companies.

 

Website: APRIL

Challenges
faced

In 2020, in the context of global sustainability efforts such as the UN SDGs and Paris Climate Agreement, Soo Khiang, along with other leaders at APRIL, had already recognized the need for continued transformation at the company. He understood that to contribute to these global initiatives and to ensure the long-term viability of the organization, it would be necessary to further integrate sustainability into its core operations.

 

APRIL’s leaders realized that pushing an ambitious new sustainability agenda within their traditional business would require a major investment of time and resources, as well as active engagement with all levels of the organization. The concept of sustainability is complex and would require significant commitments, in terms of education and training, to get different departments in the company on board.

It was also necessary to align long-term goals with immediate imperatives; a significant hurdle for most companies, which are primed to focus on short-term profitability. Finally, Soo Khiang and the APRIL management team had to be careful to strike the right balance between setting ambitious yet realistic goals – ones that would resonate with employees.

 

They would have to work together with team members across the organization to find the right compromise between what was desirable and what was achievable.

Actions
taken

Soo Khiang and Sanjay have been steadfast in their ambition to drive change and have worked closely with other leaders at APRIL and RGE to simplify the complex world of sustainability, breaking it down into digestible elements. Soo Khiang stressed that in their story, timing was everything – as the UN SDGs and Paris Climate agreement were driving change and increasing awareness, making it easier for them to get others on board with their agenda.

 

Over the course of 18 months, a plan was developed, which later became formalized as the APRIL2030 transformation strategy. Through workshops and discussions across all levels, and the support of consultants, the project leaders defined 18 ambitious targets with clear, measurable KPIs.

 

Soo Khiang worked hard to get leadership on board, and to make sure that top management supported their agenda and was ready to allocate funds where needed. He then tied the performance targets across the company to this plan, making it the ’North star’ towards which everyone was working.

Meanwhile, Sanjay has integrated the company’s financial and sustainability goals – making investments in renewable energy like solar power to replace coal. He also found a way to realize value from byproducts of pulp production, such as lignin, for energy generation. These actions are not only environmentally, but financially impactful too.

 

Sanjay, transitioned into APRIL from another RGE company after the launch of the APRIL2030 strategy.

 

Today, Soo Khiang and Sanjay still work closely with APRIL’s leaders together to ensure targets are being met, and to continuously improve their processes. If they notice they are ahead of schedule, they raise the bar, always pushing boundaries.

Resonance
of impact

The impact of Soo Khiang and Sanjay’s efforts has been profound and far-reaching. Their actions have led to a key shift in the company’s approach to sustainability. The performance targets tied to the APRIL2030 plan have created a shared sense of responsibility, ownership and commitment towards sustainability.

 

Their efforts are  also evident in the tangible progress made towards their sustainability goals. As of December 2023, APRIL has reduced product emissions intensity by 20% against 2019 baselines and increased installed solar power generation capacity to 13.5 megawatts, while 88.24% of energy of the company’s mill operations now comes from clean and renewable source.

The ambitious APRIL2030 plan, coupled with their commitment to continuous improvement, has been recognized through various awards, including the Singapore Apex Corporate Sustainability Award in 2022, IDEAS Award, Green Industry Award and Sustainable Business Award.

 

Their story is a testament to the power of cross-functional collaboration and the potential of sustainable development, showing that it’s not about making trade-offs, but about finding solutions that ensure development while driving the implementation of sustainable practices and the responsible management of resources.

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