Hayleys Plantations’ Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC awarded Global Honours for Good Governance

 15 th year of flagship ‘A home for every plantation worker’ initiative highlights improvements
to community
 1 st plantations company to complete verification for achieving SBTi
Talawakelle Tea Estates (TTE PLC), a member of the Hayleys Plantations Sector, won two major
global awards over the recent months, consolidating its position as a global leader in reporting its
value creation and ESG performance to its stakeholders.
The Regional Plantations Company (RPC) was recognised among Asia’s leaders in adopting strategic
and proactive approaches to promoting work-life harmony by empowering and supporting its
employees, at the Asia Community Business Awards 2022. Its stringent governance standards were
recognised at the globally renowned Hallbars Annual Report Awards 2022 with the company’s 2022
Annual Report receiving top honours for transparent and effective disclosures and at the World
Sustainability Awards as a Finalist of the “Profit with Purpose” Award.
Locally, TTE became the first plantations company in Sri Lanka to be bestowed the “Five Excellent
Integrated Reports Award – Tea Industry Category” at the CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting
Awards 2022 for an unparalleled record of maintaining transparency. The RPC was further
recognised with a Special Award for “Best Disclosure on Materiality” and the “Best Integrated
Report – Plantations Sector”. Most recently at the first-ever CA Sri Lanka TAGS Awards 2022, TTE
won the Silver Award – Plantations Sector.
Speaking on IR & Integrated Thinking Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg and
member of the CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards, Graham Terry said, “We are aware
of the challenges faced by the citizens of Sri Lanka over the past few years, from the COVID crisis to
the more recent economic and political challenges. All of these have played out in Sri Lankan
organisations in various ways. It is pleasing to see the way in which some organisations are building
elements of the key SDGS into their strategies because they recognise that these issues are affecting
the organisation’s ability to create value now and in the future.”
Hayleys Plantations Managing Director Dr. Roshan Rajadurai further added, “As a member of the
Hayleys Group, sustainability is ingrained into our DNA. These prestigious global and local accolades
won by Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC serve as a strong validation of this philosophy.”
“Our flagship project, “A Home for Every Plantation Worker” is in its 15th year of operation and
continues to invest in housing in partnership with the Plantation Human Development Trust, with
over Rs. 100 million invested in the previous year. Estate employees own their houses through the
Estate Worker Cooperative Housing Society in each estate,” TTE PLC Director/CEO, Senaka
Alawattegama said.
Over Rs. 7 Mn has been invested in health and nutrition benefiting over 200,000 people, including a
24 hour ambulance service, zero anemia programme, antenatal and postnatal care, and a

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comprehensive immunisation programme to prevent Tuberculosis, Polio, Hepatitis B, Influenza Type
B, Mumps, Measles and Rubella amongst others.
All employees have healthcare from cradle to grave and the maternal care programme ensures that
100% births are in hospitals. Child Development Officers operate pre-schools which enable mothers
to work. Child protection and maternal health initiatives are guided by the public-private partnership
agreement with Save the Children, Sri Lanka which was signed in 2019. The ResponsibiliTEA online
platform for accountability and learning, was launched in 2022 to facilitate effective and efficient data
management, monitoring and evaluation of child protection within the estate communities.
Community capacity building programmes worth Rs. 33.7 Mn have focused on the provision of
housing loans, microfinance and savings schemes, and training programmes from household financial
management to home gardening.
“TTEL PLC is the first plantations company in the world, and the first organisation in Sri Lanka to
have committed to and completed the verification process towards achieving the Science Based
Targets Initiative (SBTi) targets. Our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint in line with globally
accepted practices and processes are already showing tremendous progress with a 5% linear annual
reduction and a 37% reduction in emissions last year.
“Our efforts in this field will help to provide global leadership on sustainable tea production under
the framework of the SBTi Climate Ambition Accelerator programme, building risk resilience whilst
continuing to attract key export markets to source Ceylon Tea.” Alawattegama noted.
Photo Captions
Image 01: The Community Capacity Building Centre established for ‘A Home For Every Plantation
Worker’ initiative
Image 02: Medical screening conducted for workers
Image 03: Participants of the Mother and Child Care training sessions held at the Deniyaya Estate
Image 04: Products manufactured at the ‘A Home For Every Plantation Worker – Community
Capacity Building Centre
Image 05: Dry rations distributed to the community under the initiative

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