Lazada Group publishes first ESG report

Singapore-based ecommerce giant Lazada has released its first environmental, social, and governance (ESG) report. As a largely unexplored concept in Southeast Asia, the firm enlisted the help of an independent consultant to map out its ESG priorities.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

The core tenets of the firm’s ESG framework are “empowering communities, developing a future-ready workforce, ensuring responsible stewardship, and effective governance.”

Empowering communities

The report revealed that as of March 2022, Lazada has created over 1.1 million economic opportunities – which include sellers on its platform, employees of both the firm and its partners, and drivers from its third-party logistics companies – across its six Southeast Asian markets.

During the government-mandated lockdowns, the firm partnered with jeepney drivers in the Philippines as well as One Tambon One Product in Thailand to provide alternative sources of income to affected workers. Stimulus packages and micro-loans were also offered to MSMEs across the region.

In the past two years, overall workforce across the company has grown by 18%, with women making up 43% of the total staff – a higher percentage than that of the overall technology industry in Southeast Asia.

Future-ready workforce

Lazada said that it builds up its talent through on-the-job experience, other colleagues, and structured training programs. It has also developed Grow, an in-house upskilling platform for employees.

In addition, the firm has rolled out a number of content projects to engage its employees and community. These include its news hub LazBeat, its podcast Lazada Insider, its seller-centric education program Lazada University, as well as its digital learning conference Lazada Learning Festival.

Responsible stewardship

In an inventory exercise, the firm sought to measure which of its activities produced the highest amount of greenhouse gas emissions. It found that 59% of the value was attributed to a combination of purchased goods and services, upstream transportation and distribution, as well as business travel. Another 38% was amassed due to fuel consumption alone.

To help decarbonize its operations, Lazada has partnered with several public and private stakeholders. For example, the firm has worked with the Indonesian government to launch its #BlueVehicle campaign, encouraging couriers to adopt cargo bikes and electric motorcycles. In the same country, it has engaged with Westbike Messenger Service, a last-mile delivery firm that uses bicycles for its operations, to fulfill orders in areas such as Jakarta, Bandung, and Yogyakarta.

In addition, its grocery arm RedMart uses an algorithm to ensure carbon-efficient deliveries, and in Singapore, it uses insulated totes instead of refrigerated trucks. Lazada has also integrated green packaging, recyclable boxes, as well as responsibly sourced grocery goods into its operations.

Effective governance

The company also outlined its governance policies in the report, which includes its anti-bribery and corruption regulations, grievance mechanisms, as well as its cybersecurity and data privacy systems.

One of Lazada’s most interesting initiatives is its dedicated intellectual property rights protection team – the first of its kind for a Southeast Asian ecommerce firm. In 2020, the team launched an anti-counterfeit detection and takedown program, which led to the removal of various dangerous listings, 98% of which happened before any transaction took place with these items.

“Amidst global uncertainties in the wake of Covid-19, I believe digital commerce will continue to rise alongside environmental awareness. This is an opportunity for change in the next normal,” Frank Luo, group chief finance officer of Lazada, wrote in the report.