On August 18, the SUS ENVIRONMENT Malaysia Representative Office took part in the China Enterprises Chamber of Commerce in Malaysia (CECCM) “Together for a Greener Coastline” Mangrove Planting CSR Event at Taman Rekreasi Paya Bakau Sijangkang, Selangor. By participating in mangrove planting, SUS supported local coastal ecosystem conservation and biodiversity protection. The event was organized by CECCM and hosted by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and included an introduction to mangrove ecology, planting guidance and on-site planting activities

From supporting Malay tapir conservation in 2025 to participating in mangrove planting in 2026, SUS ENVIRONMENT — one of the world’s largest companies in solid waste management and clean energy — has gradually expanded its biodiversity-related practices in Malaysia from species and habitat conservation to the protection of coastal ecosystems. Building on these practices, as well as the company’s long-term experience in project management and environmental remediation, SUS ENVIRONMENT is launching the “Nature Positive × SUS” Biodiversity Series to document and examine its practices in species and habitat conservation, ecological impact identification and management across the project lifecycle, and the restoration of degraded ecosystems.

Biodiversity: From a Global Agenda to Corporate Responsibility

Biodiversity underpins ecosystem structure, function and resilience, and is becoming an increasingly important issue in corporate sustainability management. Under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, SDG 14 “Life Below Water” emphasizes the conservation and restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems, while SDG 15 “Life on Land” calls for the protection and restoration of terrestrial ecosystems, the reduction of natural habitat degradation and action to halt biodiversity loss.

Adopted in 2022, the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework further connects biodiversity with government and corporate decision-making. Target 2 calls for at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine ecosystems to be under effective restoration by 2030; Target 14 calls for biodiversity to be integrated into planning and development processes, including environmental impact assessments; and Target 15 calls on businesses, particularly large and transnational companies, to monitor, assess and disclose their dependencies and impacts on biodiversity, as well as related risks.

As biodiversity-related risks receive greater attention, biodiversity is also becoming more prominent in corporate sustainability management and disclosure frameworks. In 2024, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) published GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024, effective for GRI reporting from 2026. The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) likewise establish “Biodiversity and ecosystems” as a standalone environmental topic, encouraging companies to further identify and manage their dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities in relation to nature

For SUS ENVIRONMENT, biodiversity protection is becoming an important part of its environmental agenda. The 2025 SUS ENVIRONMENT Sustainability Report identifies “Biodiversity Protection” as a standalone topic under Environmental Protection and includes it in the company’s Double Materiality Assessment. The report is prepared with reference to the GRI Standards, the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), and sustainability disclosure requirements of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, while also considering and responding to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).[8]
In terms of topic alignment, mangrove conservation in this series is closely related to SDG 14, while Malayan tapir conservation and the protection of terrestrial ecosystems are closely related to SDG 15. More importantly, SUS is actively extending its focus on biodiversity from public welfare initiatives into project siting, construction, operation, ecological restoration and other business processes.

Malaysia Practices: From Species Conservation to Ecosystem Protection

In August 2025, the SUS ENVIRONMENT Malaysia Representative Office participated in the “Together for Malayan Tapir” public welfare initiative, supporting Malayan tapir conservation through tree planting and related activities. The case is also included in the “Biodiversity Protection” section of the 2025 SUS ENVIRONMENT Sustainability Report.

The Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) is a representative large mammal of Southeast Asia. Research by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) Peninsular Malaysia identifies deforestation, habitat loss and fragmentation, human–wildlife conflict and road mortality among the major challenges facing Malayan tapir conservation. Species conservation therefore cannot be separated from habitat conservation: protecting a species also means protecting the space, food sources and ecological connectivity that sustain it.

The transition from tapirs to mangroves is therefore not simply a shift from “one animal” to “one plant”; it represents a progression from conserving a specific species and its habitat to understanding the functions of an entire ecosystem. Mangrove planting can be one way for companies to support ecological conservation, but meaningful ecological restoration goes beyond planting seedlings. It also depends on appropriate species selection, suitable habitat conditions, community participation and long-term stewardship.

Project Management: From Impact Identification to Lifecycle Management

For environmental infrastructure companies, biodiversity protection is not limited to public welfare initiatives; it is also closely connected with environmental management and project lifecycle management. From project siting and construction to long-term operation, contaminated-site remediation and ecological restoration, companies need to consider how their activities interact with surrounding species, habitats and ecological conditions.

According to the 2025 SUS ENVIRONMENT Sustainability Report, the company checks ecological protection red lines during project site selection to avoid encroachment into protected red-line areas. During project implementation, construction and operation, it reduces ecological disturbance by controlling the construction footprint, minimizing impacts from noise, wastewater and air emissions, and carrying out vegetation restoration. In contaminated-site remediation, native plants are prioritized where appropriate for vegetation recovery.^[8]

For biodiversity risk identification, the company uses the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) to identify protected areas in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) within a 50-kilometer radius of project sites, supporting project planning and ecological risk assessment. Potential ecological risks are also identified through environmental monitoring of soil, water and air. The report states that no significant impacts on biodiversity or endangered species were identified during the 2025 reporting period.^[8]

This management approach is aligned with the direction of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for biodiversity to be integrated into decision-making and for businesses to identify, assess and disclose biodiversity-related impacts while reducing negative impacts. Rather than relying on remediation after impacts occur, the priority is to identify ecological sensitivities early in project development and embed avoidance, mitigation and restoration measures throughout lifecycle management.^[4]

Ecological Restoration: From Environmental Remediation to Ecosystem Recovery

Ecological restoration provides a more direct connection between SUS ENVIRONMENT’s core businesses and biodiversity. Pollution reduction, improved water quality, soil remediation and vegetation recovery do not in themselves mean that “biodiversity recovery” has been achieved, but they can create necessary conditions for species recolonization and the gradual recovery of ecosystem functions.

At the Hong Kong Tai Po Shuen Wan Landfill Retrofit Project, SUS ENVIRONMENT improved collection and monitoring systems for environmental risks including leachate, landfill gas, groundwater and soil, reducing secondary impacts from the historical landfill on the surrounding environment and laying a foundation for subsequent land reuse and ecological improvement.^[8]

At the Qingdao West Coast Eco-Industrial Park, SUS has further integrated biodiversity protection into operational management. The park has established an ecological activity zone and a scientifically formulated feeding mechanism to reduce human disturbance and overfeeding. Diverse plant communities provide food sources and habitat for birds, and species such as the hoopoe have also been observed on site.^[8]

These cases show that the value of environmental management goes beyond “bringing pollution indicators down.” When habitat, vegetation, species and ecosystem functions are incorporated into environmental management, environmental infrastructure can potentially evolve from a single-purpose pollution-control facility into a component that is more closely coordinated with the surrounding ecosystem. This also echoes the Global Biodiversity Framework’s direction of restoring degraded ecosystems.^[4]

Nature Around SUS: Protect, Restore and Coexist

Biodiversity protection requires long-term management, continuous monitoring and participation by multiple stakeholders. A single tree-planting event cannot simply be equated with ecological restoration, nor can the presence of wildlife around a project automatically be defined as a conservation outcome. For companies, turning biodiversity protection from episodic actions into long-term practice requires the continued accumulation of verifiable actions, monitoring results and project experience, providing a stronger basis for subsequent management and impact assessment.

Going forward, Nature Around SUS will continue to explore three areas:

From supporting Malayan tapir conservation and mangrove protection to integrating biodiversity into project management,environmental remediation and ecological restoration, SUS ENVIRONMENT’s engagement with nature is evolving from individual actions toward a more systematic approach to environmental management.

As degraded land gradually regains ecological functions and project development pays greater attention to surrounding species and habitats, biodiversity protection is becoming an increasingly important dimension of high-quality environmental management. “Nature Positive × SUS” Biodiversity Series will continue to build on real projects and long-term practices to explore the possibilities of protection, restoration and coexistence — so that environmental management not only addresses today’s environmental challenges, but also creates more space for the long-term recovery of ecosystems.

Sources

[1] China Enterprises Chamber of Commerce in Malaysia (CECCM), “Together for a Greener Coastline” Mangrove Planting CSR Event announcement; “MANGROVE AGENDA”, August 2026. View source

[2] United Nations, Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. View source

[3] United Nations, Sustainable Development Goal 15: Life on Land. View source

[4] Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: 2030 Targets (with particular reference to Target 2, Target 14 and Target 15). View source

[5] Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024; effective for reporting from 1 January 2026. View source

[6] European Commission, European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), ESRS E4: Biodiversity and Ecosystems. View source

[7] Shanghai Stock Exchange, representative practice casebook on sustainability disclosure by SSE-listed companies, section on “Ecosystem and Biodiversity Protection”; Shanghai Stock Exchange Self-Regulatory Supervision Guideline No. 14 — Sustainability Reporting (Trial). View source

[8] Shanghai SUS Environment Co., Ltd., 2025 SUS ENVIRONMENT Sustainability Report, with particular reference to “About This Report”, “Double Materiality Assessment”, “Biodiversity Protection” and the related indexes (pp. 2, 10, 40–43, 87–93). View source

[9] Magintan, D., Abdul Rahman, M. T., & Abu Hashim, A. K. (2024). “Malayan Tapir Conservation Initiatives and Its Challenges in Peninsular Malaysia”, Journal of Wildlife and Parks, Vol. 39, Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) Peninsular Malaysia. View source

[10] United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “Mangrove forests”. View source

[11] Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), “Program Pendidikan Pokok Bakau 2026” and INTROP community-collaboration materials relating to Taman Rekreasi Paya Bakau Sijangkang. View source