Sustainability
Advancing Asia as the Next Generation Digital Champion — Axiata aspires to deliver sustainable value for all.
Advancing Asia as the Next Generation Digital Champion — Axiata aspires to deliver sustainable value for all.
Creating impact for business, people & environment
Our Approach to Sustainability
As a leading digital and telecommunications conglomerate across nine countries in Southeast and South Asia, we aspire towards advancing a digital future where people, planet and our business can collectively thrive.
By harnessing the immense capabilities of digital technology, supported by global standards and best practices in sustainability, we continue to move closer to realising our vision.
Since our founding, we have progressively strengthened our commitment to sustainability, implementing frameworks, commitments and initiatives to create long-term value and support the resilience of our business.
Our Sustainability Framework guides responsible business practices through four pillars and 16 material matters, supported by strong governance, regular reviews, and stakeholder engagement to align with global ESG standards.
Advancing to Zero
Axiata’s Sustainability Framework guides responsible practices across four pillars. Our Net-Zero Roadmap targets Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions, validated by SBTi in 2024—making us the first telco in Malaysia with approved science-based targets.
SUSTAINABILITY YEAR IN REVIEW
Advancing Digital Societies
- Impacted nearly 26.8 million lives through initiatives in healthcare, education, and financial inclusion since 2022 in support of the EDISON Alliance’s 1 Billion Lives Challenge
- Achieved RM3 billion in capex and opex savings through operational excellence measures and an enhanced governance model via the Board Investment Committee
- Drove 5G adoption, cloud core infrastructure, fibre expansion, and rural connectivity through our Network Transformation Programme
- Leveraged AI to extract insights, automate processes, and enable real-time decision-making, accelerating our Telco-TechCo journey
- Improve the lives of around 23 million people between 2022 to 2025 in the areas of healthcare, education and financial inclusion (inclusive of digital skills)
Advancing Green Economy
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Diverted 1,248.50 tonnes of waste from disposal in support of the circular economy
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Became the first telecommunications company in Malaysia to receive SBTi approval for our near-term and net-zero targets based on a 2022 baseline
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Achieved an approximate 11% reduction in network fuel energy consumption and a 29% reduction in facility electricity energy consumption
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Reduced emissions intensity (Scope 1 and Scope 2 combined) and energy intensity by 7% and 6%, respectively, while establishing over 7,178 solar sites across our operations
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Become net-zero by 2050
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Reduce our absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 42% by 2030 and 90% by 2050 from a 2022 baseline
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Reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions by 25% by 2030 and 90% by 2050 from a 2022 baseline
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Advancing Our People & Communities
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Achieved 42.5% women’s representation in Axiata Corporate Centre’s Senior Management, surpassing our target of 30% by 2030
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Integrated our core values across the Group to strengthen alignment behind our Winning Culture
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Impacted 4.3 million lives through RM20.2 million in community contributions, including RM6.6 million through Axiata Foundation
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Introduced our Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) Policy to reinforce our commitment to environmental responsibility and workplace health and safety
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30% women in Axiata Group Berhad (Holding Company) senior leadership team by 2025
Driving Governance & Risk
- Introduced Zero Trust Architecture across key assets and functions
- Assessed 92.1% of operations for corruption-related risks
- Achieved an average 87.5% completion rate for Anti-Bribery & Anti-Corruption (ABAC), Whistleblowing, and Data Privacy & Cyber Security training; implemented automated ABAC and compliance monitoring
- Launched the Axiata Cyber Fusion Center (ACFC) to help businesses protect technology and customer data from cyber threats
- Increased local supplier spending from 69% to 85.1%, supporting sustainable circulation within local business ecosystems
- Build Digital Trust & Resilience to ensure the protection of customer information and the security of critical infrastructure
- Rank among the top 25% in the ASEAN region on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) maturity industry benchmark by 2025
- Create long term value by fostering a winning culture based on integrity, ethics and compliance achieved through mandatory training and awareness programmes for people and broader stakeholders
- 90% training completion for Anti-Bribery & Anti-Corruption (ABAC), Whistleblowing, Data Privacy & Cyber Security yearly
Our Performance in Numbers
Read about the impact we made in 2024
Advancing The UN SDGs
We support the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, with nine priorities that closely align with our sustainability agenda and key impact areas. While these are our primary focus, we also contribute to other goals indirectly through our Triple Core Business and our role as a responsible corporate citizen.
Amplifying Our Impact
Through our memberships and participation in key local and global organisations, we gain access to insights, skills and networks that enable us to deliver greater impact.
GSMA
We drive collaboration within the mobile ecosystem as a Board member of the GSMA, while also participating in key initiatives including the Humanitarian Connectivity Charter, Climate Action Taskforce and Connected Women Commitment Initiative.
United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)
We joined the UNGC in November 2022, pledging to incorporate the compact’s Ten Principles that enshrine ethical business practices concerning human rights, labour, environment and corruption.
CEO Action Network (CAN) Malaysia
We are one of the 75 members of CAN – a closed-door, peer-to-peer informal network of CEOs and board members focused on sustainability advocacy, capacity building, action and performance – and active participants in its Policy Advocacy Workstream, contributing towards shaping future-ready and ESG-integrated business models and ecosystems.
TM Forum
Since 2010, we have been a member of this alliance of 850+ global companies dedicated to dismantling technological and cultural barriers among digital service providers, technology suppliers, consultancies and systems integrators, and we affirmed our commitment to TM Forum’s Open API & Open Digital Architecture Manifesto in 2019.
30% Club
Launched in 2015, this global campaign promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), with a primary focus on gender parity at board and C-suite levels. The 30% Club Malaysian Chapter, of which Axiata, ADA, EDOTCO, and Boost are members, has successfully contributed to achieving 33% female representation on boards of the top 100 public-listed companies and 27.6% across all PLCs in Malaysia, as of 1 January 2025.
UN WEP
In 2022 we became a signatory to the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP), committing to fostering an inclusive workplace environment that celebrates diversity, promotes gender equality and empowers women in the workplace.
Business Integrity Alliance
As a member of the Business Integrity Alliance, we are actively engaged in collaborative efforts aimed at combating corruption and promoting business integrity.
FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams)
We strengthened our incident response and cybersecurity resilience by becoming a member of FIRST in 2019. As a member, we are connected to incident response teams worldwide, enabling us to benefit from knowledge sharing, global collaboration and timely threat alerts.
CREST
We became a member of CREST and attained CREST accreditation in 2023. CREST is an international not-for-profit membership body representing the global cyber security industry, and CREST accreditation is awarded to companies that are recognised as offering the highest quality and most professional cyber security services.
Strengthening Sustainability Governance
We consistently review and refresh our sustainability governance to improve our sustainability management and approach. Through this, we aim to strengthen Group oversight of our OpCos and guide them towards achieving our shared strategic objectives.
Overall strategic responsibility and oversight
The Board holds ultimate responsibility for our sustainability strategy, overseeing the integration of ESG matters into corporate strategy to ensure responsible growth and long-term value creation. The Board is supported in its responsibilities by the Board Sustainability Committee (BSC), which provides strategic guidance, resolves matters relating to sustainability practices and oversees sustainability-related disclosures, while also exercising oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities.
Overall management responsibility and alignment across the Group
The Group CEO and Managing Director are responsible for the overall management of sustainability-related matters and is supported by senior management within their areas of responsibility. Meanwhile, the Axiata Sustainability Steering Committee, which is chaired by the GCEO and includes members from Group Sustainability, OpCo sustainability teams and key corporate functions, is responsible for supporting the management of ESG matters and driving collaboration on such issues.
Operational responsibility and strategic implementation
Group Sustainability, which is overseen by the GCEO and Managing Director, leads the development of strategies and frameworks to drive sustainability initiatives and programmes across the Group in a structured and cohesive way.
Axiata’s Directors or Senior Leaders sit on OpCo Boards and Committees
Ensuring sustainability alignment throughout the organisation. Each OpCo maintains its own sustainability governance, escalating issues appropriately within its management structure.
Determining What Matters
We conduct annual reviews of our material matters to ensure our ESG priorities align with our societal impact. The process considers stakeholder input, emerging issues, industry shifts, and regulatory changes.
Our materiality matrix reflects input from both Axiata and stakeholders, categorising key issues from high to medium-low importance across the Group.
Engaging Our Stakeholders
We maintain open and continuous dialogue with our valued stakeholders to better understand their evolving concerns. The insights we gain enable us to stay abreast of emerging issues across our regional footprint, driving the creation of targeted initiatives and sustainability strategies.
Customers
Significance to Axiata
We serve individual and enterprise customers, providing them with the connectivity, solutions and services they need. We focus on performance and exceeding expectations to ensure a positive user experience.
Engagement Mode
We use surveys and competitor benchmarking to improve performance and exceed customer expectations across all our markets.
- Customer surveys
- Engagements and activities
- SME focus groups
Suppliers & Business Partners
Significance to Axiata
We rely on suppliers and partners for business-critical products and services that enable us to execute our strategy. We collaborate with them to optimise value and support mutual business growth.
Engagement Mode
We engage with key suppliers to identify solutions and services that enhance operational excellence. We collaborate with them to address improvement opportunities through any of these following channels.
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Direct engagements and meetings
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Tenders and bidding
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Axiata Corporate Centre Forums
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Establish strategic alliances with local, regional and global players to capture enterprise revenue growth and capability building aligned to market demand and technology trends
Community & Civil Society Organisations
Significance to Axiata
We prioritise active community participation and engagement as essential components of our social license to operate in this diverse and rapidly developing economic region.
Engagement Mode
We build relationships with the community by partnering with local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to promote digital inclusion, implement corporate responsibility programmes and assess stakeholder needs.
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Continuous communication through email and multi-platform messaging applications
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Ad-hoc meetings
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Annual meetings
Shareholders, Investors & Analysts
Significance to Axiata
As owners of Axiata, shareholders and investors provide us with the financial capital, while analysts can aid access to new investors and potentially new sources of funding, needed to sustain our growth. They are entitled to timely information about the Group and to receive a return on their investment.
Engagement Mode
We hold Annual General Meetings (AGM) to engage with our shareholders and to seek their approval on key matters. We regularly meet investors via roadshows and conferences and actively engage with analysts and prospective investors on matters relating to strategy, financials and corporate developments, including ESG-related matters
- Quarterly financial results briefings
- Investor conferences
- Annual General Meetings
- Analyst and Investor Day
- Shareholder and investor engagements
- Analyst engagements
- ESG questionnaires
Media
Significance to Axiata
The media is a vital platform for engaging with our stakeholders and the local communities in the markets we operate in. These engagements are a powerful channel to ensure our strategy and objectives are communicated clearly and understood by them.
Engagement Mode
We cultivate strong relationships with media outlets through proactive engagement, providing timely and accurate information on our activities, initiatives and perspectives.
- Media releases and press kits
- Media briefings and interviews
- Media engagements
- Media briefing sessions after AGM and release of financial results
- Media-hosted panel events
- Advertorial placements
- Media enquiries
Regulators & Government
Significance to Axiata
Our operations are governed by national laws and regulations set by regulators in each market. These regulations determine our operating licenses and may have cost implications for the Group.
Engagement Mode
- We participate in industry meetings, regulatory platforms and capacity-building workshops to foster collaborative relationships with regulators and government agencies to contribute to the development of a thriving digital ecosystem.
- National regulatory authority
- Top leadership, e.g. Prime Minister-level, President-level
- Heads of regulatory agencies
- Ministers responsible for ICT and digital sectors
- Ministers related to investments, trade, foreign affairs and finance
Industry Bodies
Significance to Axiata
As a regional Telco-TechCo player, we collaborate with industry bodies within and related to our sector, aligning on key areas of interest.
Engagement Mode
- We participate in industry discussions and roundtables to drive continuous improvement and innovation within our sector.
- Meetings, discussions and roundtables with industry bodies
Employees, Management & Board
Significance to Axiata
Our talented and diverse workforce is essential for delivering the best digital experience to our customers and executing our business strategy. We cultivate a high-performing, accountable culture to attract, develop and retain top talent.
Engagement Mode
- We use various channels, including an annual survey, regular town halls and digital platforms to maintain open communication and engage with employees across the Group
- Updates are broadcasted on television screens
