Lazada’s first ESG impact report commemorates its tenth anniversary and marks the Group’s commitment to building a sustainable business and creating positive impact
SINGAPORE, 3 NOVEMBER 2022 – Southeast Asia’s leading eCommerce platform, Lazada has released its first Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) Impact report, Shaping the Future of the Digital Economy for 2022. The report details the company’s efforts to leverage eCommerce as a force for good to uplift communities, champion accountable and sustainable business practices and manage its impact on the environment.
“As Lazada celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, we also celebrate 10 years of digital commerce in Southeast Asia. It is also a timely milestone to release our first ESG Impact report and I am pleased to share our progress in accelerating the growth of digital commerce in the region and making a difference through our operations,” said James Dong, Chief Executive Officer, Lazada Group. “This report is only the start of our journey. I am looking forward to stronger collaborations with our partners and stakeholders around how we can leverage our position as a leading eCommerce platform to shape the future of a sustainable digital ecosystem.”
The report unveils the company’s ESG framework and its four core pillars: Empowering Communities, Future-Ready Workforce, Responsible Stewardship, and Effective Governance. It highlights many notable achievements for the company under these pillars, including:
Empowering Communities
Positive socio-economic impact to support development across the region: Across its six markets, Lazada created 1.1 million economic opportunities within its ecosystem of sellers, digital commerce enablers, third-party logistics partners and dedicated employees.
Provision of services, infrastructure and capacity-building for the empowerment of Southeast Asian communities:
- Lazada’s commitment is to give back to societies and communities in recovery efforts and building a more resilient society. Initiatives such as Lazada’s COVID-19 and disaster relief responses across the markets have been in place since its early years.
- Lazada works with local stakeholders to develop programs that support women in their journeys to becoming entrepreneurs and celebrates female entrepreneurs who have overcome obstacles to grow their businesses successfully with Lazada. In March 2022, Lazada honored the achievements of 18 female entrepreneurs across the region on Lazada’s platform with the Lazada Forward Women Awards 2022.
Future-Ready Workforce
A diverse and inclusive work environment for employees: In the past two years, overall workforce across the Group has grown by 18%. Women make up 43% of Lazada’s workforce, a higher percentage than that of the overall technology industry in Southeast Asia at 32%.
Development of skillsets and knowledge for the broader digital talent pool: Lazada established initiatives such as Lazada University, an exclusive education program to empower its sellers, and the Lazada Learning Festival 2022, the biggest virtual learning festival in Southeast Asia to educate and engage with the general public.
Responsible Stewardship
Lower carbon footprint: Lazada introduced a baseline carbon inventory to identify key sources of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission across its operations. The results from the carbon inventory exercises will serve to enhance Lazada’s decarbonization roadmap in the coming years and align with global ambitions to reduce GHG emissions.
Reduced material uses and engage in a circular economy: RedMart, Lazada Singapore’s grocery arm, avoided approximately 30 tons of virgin plastic alone by switching RedMart Label water bottles to 100% recycled PET materials.
Effective Governance
Strengthened cybersecurity measures: Lazada is one of the few eCommerce platforms in Southeast Asia to be certified against the ISO 27001:2013 standards, an international standard for information security that sets out a holistic approach to securing the confidentiality.
Best practices for intellectual property protection and processes: Lazada is the first Southeast Asian digital commerce company with a dedicated Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Protection Team. In March 2020, the team piloted a proactive detection and takedown of counterfeit goods, which resulted in 98% of proactive removals occurring before a transaction took place in 2021.
“The progress we made in the last few years has laid the groundwork for sustained success and momentum as we push forward with our ESG impact,” said Frank Luo, Chief Financial Officer, Lazada Group. “As Southeast Asia’s pioneer digital commerce platform, we are committed to enabling a sustainable and healthy ecosystem that connects buyers and sellers. Our approach is to adopt an ‘ecosystem mindset’, by increasing collaboration with our partners and stakeholders along our value chain to create a positive impact.”
Most recently, Lazada Logistics in Indonesia was also honored as the winner of the Responsible Consumption and Production (Plastic) category under the B20 Sustainability 4.0 Awards, a joint European-Indonesian project and a side event of B20 Indonesia 2022. The prestigious awards celebrate businesses and individuals that embed sustainable practices in their strategies and processes by embracing the environment and societies in their agenda.
Lazada’s FY2022 ESG Impact Report has been prepared with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards 2021.
The full FY2022 ESG Impact Report: Shaping the Future of the Digital Economy can be found here.
