Sri Lanka’s leaders in progressive plantations management, Hayleys Plantations, announced
the launch of the inaugural International Sustainability Summit – a forum bringing together local
and global experts to share their expertise and showcase cutting-edge innovations with the
potential to re-shape the plantations industry for decades to come.
Bringing together leading voices from academia, government and non-government authorities,
and research institutes, the full-day event will be held on 21 July 2023.
Organised under the theme: ‘Towards Sustainable Plantations – Reimagined | Redesigned |
Resilient’, the summit aims to forge new pathways for collaboration and integration of
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into modern plantation management strategies.
Commenting on the initiative, Hayleys Plantations Managing Director, Dr. Roshan Rajadurai
said: “We are proud to unveil the International Sustainability Summit, as it is a unique
opportunity to bring together stakeholders across the industry to share best practices and drive
long-term change towards sustainable management. The initiative will serve as a platform for
meaningful conversation and collaboration while driving positive change and innovation across
the industry.”
The Summit will focus on the integration of BIO (Biosphere), GEO (Geosphere), SOCIO
(Social), and ECONO (Economy) towards sustainable, ethical, and equitable value sharing in
Plantations Management Models. The objectives of the summit include identifying unique
sustainable factors that define the long-term stability of business processes, proposing potential
long-term solutions for current challenges, building a platform for multi-sector collaboration for
common challenges, and driving long-term best practices to further encourage sustainable
multi-stakeholder choices.
The event will consist of pre-summit workshops with several stakeholder categories, including
academia, government and non-government authorities, research institutes, and NGOs. The
final summit will include high-level expert speeches, best practices sharing sessions, and high-
powered panel discussions.
Comprising of the three top-rated Regional Plantation Companies, Kelani Valley Plantations
PLC (KVPL), Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC (TTEL) and Horana Plantations PLC (HPL), the
Hayleys Plantations sector owns 60 tea and rubber estates covering approximately 26,137
hectares of land spanning three distinctive agro-climatic regions.
Hayleys Plantations is the first in the industry to be a signatory to the UNGC 10 principles in
Human Rights, Labour standards, Environment and Anti-corruption, and to pledge to the UN
CEO Water Mandate. The RPCs are also among the Top 3 Awarded Companies by CA Sri
Lanka for transparency, governance, accountability and sustainability, while also being a part of
the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Notably, the Sector has also
committed to the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi).
(from left) TTEL Deputy General Manager Sustainability & Quality Systems
Development Krishna Rangalal, HPL Director/CEO Johann Rodrigo, KVPL Director/CEO Anura Weerakoon, Hayleys Plantations Managing Director Dr. Roshan Rajadurai, TTEL Director/CEO
Senaka Allawattegama and KVPL General Manager HR & Corporate Sustainability Anuruddha
Gamage at the launch of the launch Image
Hayleys Plantations Managing Director Dr. Roshan Rajadurai launching the logo and theme for the summit
Logo