CKPower Public Company Limited (SET: CKP), one of the largest renewables-based electricity producers with one of the lowest carbon footprints in the region, recently shared its sustainability vision at the “GCNT Forum 2023: Partnership for Human Capital 5.0 – Towards Sustainable Intelligence” organised by the United Nations Global Compact Network Thailand (UNGCNT) in conjunction with the United Nations in Thailand. CKPower reaffirmed its commitment to “driving communities around its power plants and nearby areas to grow together through skill development and the advancement of innovation from local intelligence” and to “generating sustainable occupation opportunities and earnings for the local community” as addressed during the discussion session “Lead Everyone Forward, Leave No One Behind” on the GCNT Forum 2023 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.
Ms. Tuangporn Bunyasaranand, Assistant Managing Director, Corporate Communication and Sustainability Management, CKPower Public Company Limited, shared the company’s experiences in Lead Everyone Forward, Leave No One Behind session saying, “Not only do we use cutting-edge technology to produce clean electricity that is environmentally friendly, but we also create shared value with communities around our power plants and nearby areas so they can grow and have a sustainable occupation and sustainable income through our two main strategies, namely Environmental and Social Empowerment and Value Creation For Society – both of which are front and centre in our effort to drive society towards sustainable intelligence.”
CKPower has built social and environmental strength for the local communities through three major concepts, namely 1. Housing and Infrastructure Development to allow people in the communities to have access to public utilities such as health-care centres, schools, town halls and markets 2. Community Development Program: Livelihood and Income Enhancement to provide people in the communities with sustainable occupation and sustainable income by, for example, expanding and enhancing the efficiency of local occupations and community products and supporting local know-how 3. Public Health Care by improving public health standards for the communities around the power plants. The company attaches importance to all the steps involved in the process from planning development to management and follow-up to ensure tangible development results.
“As for the second strategy, we have enhanced social and community value, which is instrumental in driving society towards a sustainable intelligence society. We have harnessed our engineering capability in clean energy to efficiently fulfill the communities in line with our 5-year CSR Strategy Framework (2022-2026), which covers all three aspects, namely social, environmental and economic. We have improved the quality of life of the communities by giving them access to 57,430 watts of renewable energy as we create awareness for sustainable conservation, preserving and restoring natural resources and the environment through our Grow Green project involving giving value to garbage, planting trees and building green power plants while supporting innovation development to increase the prospects for stable occupational development and income generation in the communities by encouraging them to use local know-how passed on from generation to generation, as well as developing local products to suit evolving market demand and to be in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” added Ms. Tuangporn.
In executing the two main strategies during 2022 and 2023, CKPower applied the concepts in various projects at local levels, especially in the communities around its power plants, where knowledge is transferred and local know-how is preserved to ensure sustainable occupation and income for the next generation. Better education is guaranteed for 1,553 school children. Knowledge on renewable energy has been imparted to 3,700 children in Thailand and the Lao PDR. The company’s Waste to Value initiative has turned food waste into soil-improving material in an effort to protect natural resources and the environment, which engaged 271 people, including community members, local youth and CKPower’s employees. There is also a program to create jobs and improve local products from two villages.
These efforts provide the communities access to essential know-how and infrastructure – an important foundation to ready our human capital for the transition to Economy 5.0. The GCNT Forum 2023 was organised to support human resources development to prepare human capital for the society of sustainable intelligence as the forum made a joint declaration to develop at least 1 million people in 133 member organisations by 2030 and to establish the Sustainable Intelligence Youth Club to increase the potential of the new generation by 2024 through direct learning from the business sector and the sustainable intelligence alliance. The company decided to provide its support to GCNT in driving Thailand toward a society of sustainable intelligence because both parties shared a similar sustainability goal.
