Grab, the Singapore-based superapp, announced Thursday three goals to drive sustainable and inclusive growth in Southeast Asia.
The new goals are doubling the number of marginalised individuals earning income on its platform by 2025; reaching 40 percent female leadership by 2030, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2040, Grab said in a statement.
These goals were unveiled in the company’s annual environment, social and governance (ESG) report released on Thursday.
“We have to confront two important realities in a rapidly growing digital economy. First, an unequal access to opportunities, and second, an acceleration of climate change. This is why we are focusing our ESG goals on driving inclusive growth and closely managing the environmental footprint of our ecosystem,
“Our journey to becoming a triple bottom line company reflects our strong belief that the long-term success of our business is intricately linked to the welfare of the communities we serve, and the health of our planet,” said Anthony Tan, Co-Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Grab.
In order to double the number of marginalised individuals who earn a living through its platform by 2025, Grab plans to launch Grab Access, a regional programme to lower the barriers for marginalised individuals to join Grab.
The programme will provide these individuals with special financial and training support for a period of time to help them adapt and ease into the platform. Grab Access will roll out first in Indonesia, with other countries to follow this year.
Grab is also committed to working towards increasing the percentage of women on its leadership bench to 40 percent by 2030, up from 34 percent currently, to ensure the company has diverse voices in management positions and considers a variety of views in crafting and implementing policies and decisions.
The company will continue to invest in mentorship and leadership programmes to support career development for female employees; create more comprehensive support networks for females in the workforce; invest in proactive measures such as data-driven studies and training programmes to help managers catch and address any unconscious biases that may occur in candidate interviews and performance review processes.
The firm continues to maintain a high gender wage parity, with female employees earning 98 cents to a dollar paid to male employees for performing a similar role at Grab.
Grab is also committed to actively manage its carbon footprint, with the goal to become carbon neutral by 2040 even as the business continues to grow significantly over the years.
It will focus first on implementing measures to reduce emissions before turning to offsets.
To reach carbon neutrality by 2040, Grab will continue to drive the transition to low emission vehicles among its partners, including transitioning 100 percent of its ride-hailing fleet in Singapore to low emission vehicles by 2030.
It will also achieve net zero operational carbon for all premises as a member of EP100, by transitioning all other premises operated by Grab and under its direct control such as data centres and operation hubs to renewable energy by 2030.
It will continue to develop artificial intelligence and machine learning to further optimise for resource efficiency across all areas of its business and operations, such as order
batching and ride-sharing to reduce unnecessary travel.
It will work with suppliers and vendors within its value chain to minimise emissions; invest in high quality carbon offsets in Southeast Asia and explore carbon capture solutions; educate and empower consumers to manage their environmental footprint by opting for mobility options with lower emissions or carbon offsets.
Grab said to be eyeing stake in Malaysia’s sixth largest banking group AmBank – report