To celebrate Carlsberg’s 175th global anniversary and 50 years since the first beer was brewed at its Shah Alam Brewery, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Berhad (CBMB) wanted to take a new approach to its sustainability communications. It wanted to produce an integrated annual report showcasing its value proposition and sustainability journey as part of the Carlsberg Group’s broader sustainability ambitions.
But while this report would draw on the Group’s global vision, it also needed to reflect local stakeholder priorities with appropriate messaging and storytelling. And, with an internal team new to the process of creating an integrated report, CBMB needed a partner with the right local expertise. We were there to help.
The first step was for our experienced APAC team to carry out an in-depth materiality assessment. We wanted to tell a compelling story that resonated with the stakeholders who mattered most to CBMB and so, to better understand its stakeholders and focus areas, our experts efficiently gathered input from a broad range of internal and external stakeholders.
The next step was to identify a wide range of material factors affecting CBMB. Our desk-based research helped us distil the materiality assessment’s findings into 27 focus areas that aligned with Carlsberg’s global sustainability priorities.
We then launched a survey with seven stakeholder groups, helping us understand which areas carried greater priority. Informed by these responses, we ran focus groups and one-to-one interviews to draw out even more insight.
Our findings allowed us to map the key material topics affecting CBMB. Based on the comprehensive data and insights gathered, we produced detailed strategic recommendations that would form the basis of the integrated report.
To cut through the complexity of different sustainability frameworks used by CBMB previously, we proposed a new format that ensured a more focused narrative. This included highlighting sections that were most relevant to Carlsberg Group’s ESG framework, CBMB’s UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Taskforce for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures' recommendations. The report also complied with AA1000 standards.
And through our seamless project management, we demonstrated how the skills and knowledge of different teams and functions can come together via deeper internal co-operation and spark a shift towards deeper integration of sustainable action.
