LONDON, ENGLAND – Olam received an award recognizing its efforts on addressing climate change, protecting forests and reducing water consumption.

The award by CDP, a global benchmarking company, was given to companies who responded to CDP’s questionnaires in 2017 and achieved the best scores. Olam was a joint winner with Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL for Hong Kong and South East Asia region.

Olam said it consistently promotes Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in its indirect supply chains and has significantly improved its carbon and water footprints – respectively 29% and 31% improvement per tonne of product produced in 2016.

“Changing weather patterns are already having profound effects on crops and communities,” said Sunny Verghese, co-founder and group chief executive officer of Olam. “And so it is ironic that agriculture is actually a major contributor to climate change. As we approach this year’s UN Climate Talks, I see three imperatives for Olam – identify short-term fixes; look beyond our boundaries and engage with suppliers; and, finally, be bold enough to re-imagine agriculture to find solutions that take us far beyond incremental improvements.”