Governance

Innovation and Technology

Our Approach

Innovation and technology are crucial in securing QL’s long-term business success, empowering us to remain pertinent and agile amidst rapidly shifting market trends. Our ongoing dedication involves embracing and investing in innovation and technology to drive QL’s progress responsibly, while ensuring the safeguarding of cybersecurity and data protection.
Automation for Scalability

QL remains committed to investing in automation initiatives throughout our business operations to achieve scalability. Automation enhances efficiency and productivity by streamlining processes and reducing our dependence on manual labours. This can result in cost savings and increased output.

In addition, automation can improve accuracy and consistency in our operations, leading to higher quality products and services. By implementing automated processes, human interaction with food products in our productions has been significantly minimised, ensuring a consistent level of product quality. As our employees are relieved from manual duties, they can dedicate their attention to strategic or creative endeavours, driving innovation, research and development within the organisation.

Digitalising Operations

QL initiated our digitalisation journey by incorporating digital technologies into different aspects of our business operations. Our journey commenced with the ILF business pillar.

Centralised systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning and farm management system will be employed to streamline farm processes and collect real time operational data using digital tools and applications. Furthermore, IoT devices are utilised to capture data for analysis, minimise human error, and enhance productivity. These initiatives will establish the technological foundation for QL, paving the path for integration of advanced data analytics into our daily operations for better decision making moving forward.

Safeguarding Data Protection and Privacy

In FY2024, we enhanced a data security framework, along with revamp and implementation plan of QL’s Data Privacy and Security Policy governing the management of personal data collected and processed by QL. We have a group-wide reporting channel for incidences of personal information leakage, accessible via email, phone, or postal mail. Any incident received will be escalated to Data Protection Officer. Respective departments will acknowledge the reported incident, conduct investigation, and develop plan to address and rectify the incident.

In addition to conducting routine IT awareness training for all employees, we also performed vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to detect threats, mitigate cybersecurity risks, and enhance security maturity progressively.

FY2024 Highlights

  • Zero substantiated incidents

    of data breach

View Our Innovation and Technology Section in the Integrated Annual Report

Explore Our Impact Stories

Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy QL is actively adopting renewable energy technologies to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel-based energy. As we are

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Social Responsibility

Supply Chain (Social)

Our Approach

Effective management of ESG factors is essential for ensuring sustainable supply chain operations. This approach not only enhances our business value and growth but also benefits the environment and society. Therefore, QL strives to practice a responsible supply chain management process that minimises environmental impacts and at the same time fosters socially responsible management of suppliers and procurement activities.
Guiding Principles for Socially Responsible Supply Chain

QL has crafted a Supply Chain Policy to establish a set of guidelines governing procurement activities of QL and our suppliers who conduct business with us and on behalf of QL for implementation of a sound supplier management process. Aimed at promoting environmental stewardship, social equity and regulatory compliance, the policy outlines QL’s commitments in working with our suppliers on environmental and social sustainability aspects.

While QL places great emphasis on respect for human rights and fair labour practices, our suppliers are similarly expected to uphold ethical standards in their operations. They are encouraged to treat their employees equally, with respect and dignity. This covers prohibition of child, forced and involuntary labour, observation to minimum wage, work hours, overtime and benefits, respect to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and ensuring workplace security, safety and health.

View Our Supply Chain (Social) Section in the Integrated Annual Report

Explore More Social Impact Stories

Rainwater Harvesting

In line with our efforts to conserve water by capturing rainwater that would otherwise runoff into sewers, we continue our rainwater harvesting initiative at QL Breeder Farms Sdn. Bhd. for non-potable uses. However, we observed a 26.5% decrease in rainwater volume from 6,754 m3 in FY2023 to 4,962 m3 in FY2024 attributable to reduced rainfall in the region.

We extended our efforts to QL Kitchen Sdn. Bhd. by the installation of a rainwater harvesting system. In FY2024, we successfully harvested 111 m3 of rainwater for non-potable uses.

Renewable Energy

QL is actively adopting renewable energy technologies to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel-based energy by harvesting clean energy. In FY2024, we generated 977,506.75 GJ energy from solar, biogas and biomass, replacing 45.2% of our energy needs.

QL Kitchen Sdn. Bhd. increased its solar generation capacity by installing 1,802 solar panels with a capacity of 1,000 kWp at the second kitchen in July 2023.

As of FY2024, 31,959 pieces of solar panels were installed across the Group, enabling us to offset 10,062.95 tonnes of GHG emissions.

Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy QL is actively adopting renewable energy technologies to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel-based energy. As we are

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Making a Difference in the Lives of Our Communities and the Environment

During the reporting year 2024, QL allocated RM939,546 towards community initiatives, benefiting approximately 176 organisations and extending support to 11,656 individuals.

Throughout the year, the company undertakes activities or donations to give back to communities and the environment. We continue to enhance the well-being of our local communities by creating employment opportunities and supporting local fishermen to bolster their businesses. We have also extended our collaboration with our supplier to combat the issue of child stunning in Malaysia. We partner with a local soup kitchen society to support homeless and marginalised communities in Malaysia. This partnership also helps prevent edible food from being wasted, thereby contributing to the reduction of food waste.

Aside from that, we remain committed to elevating the quality of education either through education facilities upgrading or our engagement supporting school activities to enrich the well-being of students. Activities that we support include but not limited to sponsoring awards for top students, hosting factory visits, school sports day and fund-raising activities.

MPM
Advocating for Employment Opportunities in Local Communities

QL remains committed to supporting the communities in which we operate by offering employment opportunities. In FY24, QL hired 4,884 locals, these comprised 79.8% of the total hires for the year. Primarily, the CVS business pillar accounted for most of these local hires.

Over the years, QL Endau Marine has been committed to recruiting from the underserved Orang Asli communities residing near our operations. This year, we have employed and onboarded 89 Orang Asli individuals to our team, which is a hiring increase of 40.4% from the previous year. From these hires, 58.4% remain employed. Although the retention rate has increased by 28.9% from the previous year, a key ongoing challenge lies in retaining these individuals and helping them adapt to the work environment. The team remains committed to continue providing employment opportunities to this underserved community and exploring avenues to support their transition into the workforce.

Fostering Shared Prosperity with Local Fishermen

The Fisherman Financial Assistance Scheme (FFAS), which was initiated over two decades ago, continues to be an integral core flagship programme for the Marine Product Manufacturing (MPM) business pillar.

The mutually beneficial arrangement between the fishermen and QL has created shared value for both parties. Fishermen continue to have access to financial assistance, and QL has access to the fishermen’s catch. In addition, over the years, both parties have fostered a strong relationship, enabling the sharing of knowledge and expertise that significantly improves the livelihood of fishermen and the fishing industry.

During FY24, QL allocated RM22.09 million in financial aid through FFAS, benefiting 895 fishermen. QL bore an estimated net financing cost of RM585,500.

ILF
Breaking the Cycle of Child Stunting Among Pre-Schoolers

Since the launch of the 2023 C Our Future Programme, the programme has been meticulously monitored to assess its effectiveness in promoting the growth and development of the pre-schoolers benefiting from the provision of eggs.

We are pleased to report that the initiative has helped to reduce the underweight children by 24% over the six months period. Seeing the effectiveness of the programme, the ILF business pillar maintains its enthusiasm and optimism to continue championing this initiative alongside Ceva Animal Health, positioning it as a flagship programme within the ILF business pillar.

Now entering our second year since inception, QL has renewed our commitment to donating eggs to 18 kindergartens, which are mainly attended by 505 pre-schoolers from low-income families and indigenous communities. Commencing from March 2024 up to January 2025, the children will receive one egg each day to consume in their respective kindergartens.

Enhancing the Quality of Education Through the Construction of a Layer House Research Facility

In our steadfast dedication to fostering quality education, QL has committed this year to sponsoring the construction of a layer house for UPM’s Agriculture Faculty. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was officially signed between QL and UPM on 22 February 2024, to formalise this initiative.

The construction of the layer house, designed to accommodate approximately 2,000-layer chickens, will facilitate teaching and learning in layer chicken production and bolster research and innovation efforts in addressing issues and challenges in local layer chicken production.

QL’s sponsorship of this initiative aims to elevate and refine industry practices in the layer farming sector, ultimately enhancing its quality.

CVS
Feeding the Needy Through Our Food Salvage Programme

Our CVS business pillar has initiated a collaboration with a local soup kitchen, Kechara Soup Kitchen, to salvage edible food to be distributed to the needy. The purpose of the programme is to ensure that surplus food is collected and redirected to those in need, thereby addressing food insecurity in our community and reducing waste.

Since the commencement of the programme on 28 August 2023, and up until 31 March 2024, a total of 21,979 meals were served to the needy. With an aim to support community well-being and promote social equity, the programmes involved collaborating with 114 organisations, serving various underserved communities such as shelter homes for the elderly and children, soup kitchen food banks, the underprivileged Orang Asli, and project perumahan rakyat communities.

The CVS business pillar is considering the food salvage initiative as a long-term flagship programme as part of its business strategy of reducing food waste within the business pillar and more widely at the group level.

Sustainability

Sustainability transcends beyond simply reducing consumption as it involves creating and delivering enduring value for QL, communities, and future generations, reflecting the essence of our company name, QL, an abbreviation for Quan Li. In generating sustainable value, we focus not only on reductions but also on optimizing value creation.

QL is committed to creating value for all stakeholders, including investors, employees, suppliers, customers, consumers, and communities. Building on this ethos, we embrace an integrated approach to sustainability, encompassing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) dimensions. ESG principles are integrated into QL’s business strategy planning and operational practices across the Group. Our sustainability governance structure ensures that our sustainability approach is rooted in strategic risk and opportunity management, guided by principles and industry best practices.

Our Three Pillars of Sustainability
3 3-pillar Environment Responsibility A-01
Environmental Responsibility
3 3-pillar Social Responsibility A-01
Social Responsibility
3 3-pillar Governance A-01
Governance
Leaf01
2024 Sustainability Report

Explore our latest Sustainability Report to find out more about our sustainability approach, material matters and how we are managing our material matters.

Explore Our Impact Stories

Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy QL is actively adopting renewable energy technologies to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel-based energy. As we are

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Sustainability Priorities

QL is committed towards sustainable development with 15 key sustainability matters identified. These sustainability matters will support the Group’s objective achieving sustainable growth with positive impacts to the environment and the society.

Environmental Responsibility

Climate Change

Reducing GHG emissions to contribute towards the global climate agenda
LEARN MORE

Water Security

Safeguarding water is key to ensuring water security for all
LEARN MORE

Pollution and Resources

Increasing efforts in managing use of resources and adopting circular economy principles
LEARN MORE

Biodiversity

Restoring the balance of nature through rehabilitation and regeneration
LEARN MORE

Supply Chain (Environment)

Reducing carbon footprint of our supply chain operations and promoting a sustainable ecosystem
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Social Responsibility

Customer Responsibility

Producing high quality, safe and nutritious food that meets consumer demands
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Labour Standards

Promoting fair labour practices to ensure that our employees receive fair treatment and respect at workplace
LEARN MORE

Talent Management

Developing a skilled workforce led by progressive leadership team
LEARN MORE

Occupational Safety & Health

Building a safe and healthy work culture underpinned by leading health and safety practices
LEARN MORE

Community Contributions

Creating positive impacts for communities through corporate philanthropy programmes
LEARN MORE

Supply Chain (Social)

Ensuring the protection of workers’ rights, enhancing safety and supporting local vendors
LEARN MORE

Governance Responsibility

Anti-Corruption

Embedding good corporate governance to manage ESG risks and opportunities across the Group
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Innovation and Technology

Equipping us to anticipate and adapt to changing market dynamics
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Risk Management

Incorporating risk management into strategic planning and day-to-day operations
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Environmental Responsibility

Climate Change

Our Approach

Climate change poses a substantial challenge to our business operations, impacting our entire supply chain from raw materials sourcing to products manufacturing, logistics, and products delivery to customers.

QL acknowledges that our operations contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and is proactively addressing climate impacts. In addition, we are dedicated to utilise renewable energy from diverse sustainable sources.

Identifying Risks and Seizing Opportunities

QL acknowledges the significance of climate change as a crucial business concern and recognises the detrimental effects and associated risks climate change poses to our business operations. In FY2024, we have identified a list of climate-related risks and opportunities spanning short, medium, and long-term horizons. These risks and opportunities will be addressed in our strategies in the future.

The below table presents climate change risks and opportunities related to QL’s operations:

While the Group is embarking on a journey to TCFD disclosures, Management believes that the understanding will progressively deepen with regards to how climate change will affect the Group. Similarly, the necessary organisational skills and capabilities to assess climate-related risks and opportunities will be improved including the use of scenario analysis. Therefore, the climate change risk, opportunities and mitigations will be periodically reviewed and updated.
Commitment to Climate Change
To showcase our dedication to addressing climate change concerns, we introduced a Climate Change Policy in FY2024. The policy outlines QL’s strategy for tackling climate-related matters and integrating climate considerations into our decision-making procedures.

Our Target

Achieve 20% GHG emissions reduction by FY2026 from FY2020 baseline.

GHG reduction from FY2020 baseline
35%

FY2024 Highlights

  • 977,506.75 GJ

    renewable energy generated

  • 25,795.97 tCO2e

    of GHG emissions avoided

7%

GHG Intensity Reduction

Note: Performance since FY2020

Our Performance

Energy Consumption
FY2022 * FY2023 FY2024
Non-renewable source by type (000 GJ)
Total Non-Renewable Energy Consumption Per Thousand Gigajoule, 000 GJ 870.47 1,054.67 1,184.20
Scope 1 (Diesel, Petrol, Natural Gas & Liquified Petroleum Gas) 000 GJ 364.69 441.78 503.13
Scope 2 (Purchased Electricity) 000 GJ 505.78 612.89 681.07
Renewable source by type (000 GJ)
Solar, Biogas & Biomass Per Thousand Gigajoule, 000 GJ 776.22 841.91 977.51
Energy Intensity (GJ/ RM Mil Revenue)
Total Energy Consumption Per Thousand Gigajoule, 000 GJ 1,646.69 1,896.58 2,161.71
Energy Intensity GJ/ RM Mil Revenue 459.00 439.76 ** 484.88
 
GHG Emissions
FY2022 * FY2023 FY2024
Total GHG Emissions Per Thousand Tonnes, 000 tCO2e 113.37 142.82 153.64
Direct (Scope 1) GHG Emissions 000 tCO2e 26.52 35.51 36.10
Indirect (Scope 2) GHG Emissions 000 tCO2e 86.85 107.31 117.54
GHG Emissions Intensity tCO2e/ RM Mil Revenue 31.61 31.89 ** 34.46
GHG Emissions Avoidance
Total GHG Emissions Avoided 000 tCO2e 26.81 25.15 25.79
* Restated FY2022 data according to the same baseline criteria
** Restated with revised calculation or recategorisation

View Our Climate Change Section in the Integrated Annual Report

Explore More Environmental Impact Stories

Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy QL is actively adopting renewable energy technologies to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel-based energy. As we are

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QL is committed towards sustainable development with 12 key sustainability matters identified. These sustainability matters will support the Group’s objective achieving sustainable growth with positive impacts to the environment and the society.   

Sustainability Priorities

Environmental Responsibility

Climate Change & Emissions

Reducing GHG emissions to contribute towards the global climate agenda
LEARN MORE

Water Security

Safeguarding water is key to ensuring water security for all
LEARN MORE

Waste Management

Increasing efforts in managing use of resources and adopting circular economy principles
LEARN MORE

Biodiversity

Restoring the balance of nature through rehabilitation and regeneration
LEARN MORE

Social Responsibility

Growing Our Business

Pursuing sustainable growth through strategic investment decisions
LEARN MORE

Food Quality, Safety & Nutrition

Producing high quality, safe and nutritious food that meets consumer demands
LEARN MORE

Biosecurity

Practicing rigorous biosecurity management measures to ensure healthy and safe poultry
LEARN MORE

Fair Labour Practices

Promoting fair labour practices to ensure that our employees receive fair treatment and respect at workplace
LEARN MORE

Talent Management

Developing a skilled workforce led by progressive leadership team
LEARN MORE

Occupational Safety & Health

Building a safe and healthy work culture underpinned by leading health and safety practices
LEARN MORE

Commitment to Our Communities

Creating positive impacts for communities through corporate philanthropy programmes
LEARN MORE

Governance

Upholding Business Integrity

Embedding good corporate governance to manage ESG risks and opportunities across the Group
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Our Value Creation Strategy

Sustainability has always been an integral part of QL’s business operations. In our efforts to create shared value for all, we are cognizant of our role, responsibility and duty to conduct business ethically and uphold good corporate governance, operate in a socially and environmentally responsible manner and adhere to sustainable practices.

Our Value Creation Model
Sustainability Governance

The sustainability direction for the Group is determined by the Board of Directors of QL (the Board), which ensures that our sustainability strategies, priorities, targets, and performance are communicated to both internal and external stakeholders. The Board, along with the Executive Committee (EXCO), reviews the Group’s sustainability performance in addressing material sustainability risks and opportunities.

In steering the Group’s sustainability efforts, the Board is supported by a Sustainability Steering Committee (SSC) which is chaired by QL’s Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and comprising Head of Business Units and Business Functions (HOBU). The SSC is assisted by the Sustainability Reporting Working Group (SRW) to guide and monitor QL’s sustainability performance across business units. Based on the agreed framework and focused areas, business units work on implementing their sustainability initiatives within their businesses.

The roles and responsibilities of each committee are summarised below:

Recognising the paramount importance of ESG, QL commits substantial resources to oversee sustainability efforts, including establishing a dedicated Corporate Sustainability Team led by a senior manager. This team is instrumental in advancing the organisation’s sustainability agenda, harmonizing business growth with social responsibility and environmental stewardship for long-term success.

Assuming a key role in SRW and coordinating with all committees across sustainability governance, the manager serves as a catalyst in embedding sustainability into the company’s strategies. Through cross-departmental collaboration, the manager leads the formulation of sustainability policies and initiatives, while also monitoring key performance indicators to measure progress towards our sustainability goals.

Materiality Assessment

QL conducts full materiality assessment once every three years and review our material matters annually to ensure that our sustainability matters remain relevant and up to date with local and global trends.

In FY2024, QL conducted a double materiality assessment to update our previous materiality matrix that was established in FY2021 to better reflect the latest prioritisation of our material topics. The assessment evaluated the significance of ESG factors in QL’s value creation and the impacts of QL’s business operations throughout its entire value chain on both people and the environment.

The materiality matrix presented below is a restatement of QL’s matrix from FY2021.

QL Materiality Matrix

We have streamlined our previous 17 material matters into 15. To align with emerging ESG issues and evolving stakeholder expectations, we have consolidated and renamed several material matters. Major updates are as follows:

  • Climate Change – Merged “Climate Change & Emissions” and “Energy Management”.
  • Pollution and Resources – Expanded “Waste & Effluents Management” to include resources management.
  • Supply Chain (Environment) – Split out from “Supply Chain Management” to provide focus on environmental impacts including sustainable agriculture practices.
  • Supply Chain (Social) – Split out from “Supply Chain Management” to provide focus on social impacts.
  • Customer Responsibility – New material matter introduced to provide wider coverage for responsible marketing and advertising.
  • Risk Management – New material matter introduced to emphasis on robust risk management.
  • Innovation and Technology – New material matter introduced to reflect its trend as an emerging risk and increasing significance to our stakeholders.
  • Anti-Corruption – Renamed from “Upholding Business Integrity” to expand coverage on anti-corruption.

Our materiality matrix reveals that 13 material matters are rated as high importance to value creation and high impact materiality to environment and social. Three material matters, namely Anti-Corruption, Customer Responsibility, and Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) are the top three most important and most impactful. While Community Contributions and Biodiversity may have shifted to a lower quadrant, we acknowledge our impacts on local communities and biological resources. Hence, we remain committed to incorporating disclosures pertaining to these matters wherever applicable, considering the relevancy to our stakeholders.

The in-depth assessment concluded a series of material matters that will be the focus of our sustainability efforts and disclosures. It served as the foundation for crafting our ESG plans and establishing a set of targets for our key material topics commencing from 2024.

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