CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

As a media organisation, we are committed to caring for the environment and reducing the impact of our business. In 2009, we have taken a review of our environmental impacts and have projected to set targets to increase recycling and reduce energy use in 2010. We are also planning to introduce new policies and initiatives to achieve this next year. Our stakeholders should be aware that our environmental management programmes are still in its development stage and we are working hard to ensure that appropriate programmes are put in place by 2010.

SUPPORTING ENVIRONMENTAL CAUSES

This year we provided our full media backing to WWF-Malaysia in conjunction with Earth Hour on 28 March 2009. WWF had targeted at least 5 million Malaysians to pledge to Earth Hour. To achieve this aim, our Group television and radio networks also encouraged our viewers and listeners to pledge their support. Our television networks also ran special segments supporting Earth Hour and conducted interviews with celebrity ambassadors supporting the cause.

During Earth Hour, we turned off our non-essential lights at Sri Pentas, while our radio networks with 8TV stopped transmission for an hour beginning from 8.30 pm.

WASTE AND RECYCLING

In 2009, we are pleased to report that we have managed to reduce our paper use in our organisation by 10% compared to 2008, thereby saving a total of 22 reams of paper equivalent per year or nearly 2 trees this year. Data for paper use was obtained from Media Prima and Big Tree up to October 2009. In total, Big Tree contributes about 0.4% of total paper use for Media Prima. We are still in the process of further reducing our paper use in our offices and we are encouraging the use of electronic documents.

MEDIA PRIMA'S 2008 & 2009 PAPER CONSUMPTION (SHEETS)



ELECTRICITY USE

Total amount of electricity used at Media Prima was 32,584,000 kWh as of September 2009. Of this, Big Tree accounted for 15% of electricity use, of which 98% was for billboard use.

ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION (KWH '000)



REDUCING OUR CLIMATE IMPACT

This year we embarked on assessing our carbon footprint of our activities – and have chosen to start with Media Prima and Big Tree. Our initial assessments indicate that in 2009, we have generated around 25,942 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq), with majority of our emissions arising from energy use at Media Prima (see chart below). Big Tree contributes around 14% of total carbon emissions.

CONTRIBUTION FOR TOTAL CARBON FOOTPRINT



Carbon emissions estimation was conducted in accordance to ISO14064 and has been estimated for direct and indirect carbon emissions. The figure below reflects the breakdown of carbon emissions for Media Prima. As can be seen majority of our carbon emissions comes from electricity use, while travelling accounts for the rest of our emissions.

MEDIA PRIMA'S 2009 CARBON FOOTPRINT BREAKDOWN (TONNES CO2-EQ)



WATER USE

In 2009, we consumed a total of 100,146 m3 of water for year to date October 2009. The data includes that for Media Prima and Big Tree. Our water consumption is primarily for domestic used, that is, for toilets, washing and our cafeteria. Big Tree consumes about 0.05% of total water for the group.

MEDIA PRIMA'S 2009 WATER CONSUMPTION (m3)



This consumption works out to be around 50 m3 per employee per year or 2% of the average Malaysian water consumption use per capita per year. To present a different perspective, the global average water consumption rate was estimated at 1,240 m3/capita/year (as reported by Chapagain, A.K. and Hoekstra, A.Y. (2004) ‘Water footprints of nations’, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 16, UNESCO-IHE, Delft, Netherlands). From the chart below shows the water consumption per country per capita per year; and as can be seen, Malaysia is listed as having water consumption per capita of between 2,100 to 2,500 m3/capita/year. In the USA, the average water consumption rate is 2500 m3/capita/yr while China consumes an average of 700 m3/capita/yr.



As a country we are facing increasing stresses on our water supply systems due to increased population growth and urbanization,industrialization and the expansion of irrigated agriculture. As such, we recognise that we will need to be more efficient in our water use.

Water efficiency measures will be explored in our efforts to reduce water use. We will also be looking into running an awareness campaign to reduce water use by our staff and contractors.