Our environmental contributions range from our active promotion and participation in conservation initiatives within our organization, in our supply chain, and in local communities where we operate, to commitments to well-recognized domestic and international standards and reporting agreements.
As our primary business is in the Philippines, among the countries most vulnerable to climate change in the world, we live the reality of extreme weather disturbances and natural disasters. Thus, we are fully supportive of the Paris Agreement’s goal to keep the rise in global average temperature this century to well below two degrees Celsius (2°C) and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C.
We are working to reduce our operational footprint on the environment through energy conservation in our offices and branches and taking environmental protection into account when making lending decisions.
Operational Eco-Efficiency
Environmental stewardship starts within our organization. We consistently strive to improve our operations through the conservation of energy, water, and resources.
In 2021, we have expanded the scope of our environmental performance data to include our corporate centers and domestic branches.
Use of Energy, Water, and Material
We are keen to manage the environmental footprint of our business operations, balancing our commercial interest with our sustainability ambition. As such, we continuously explore ways to optimize our performance in the areas of energy and water consumption as well as materials use.
In 2021, our environmental performance changed due to the work-from-home arrangement and the utilization of online platforms during lockdown. In addition, we embarked on these initiatives:
- Assessed our performance on the following areas in our operations: energy billing, operation of equipment, preventive maintenance plans, and energy audits.
- Implemented more energy conservation measures to further reduce our power consumption, which included the rewiring of lights, reduction of motor frequency, optimization of air conditioning (A/C) units operation, installation of motion sensors, scheduled light switch on/off on unused areas, continuous replacement of conventional fluorescent bulbs to LED (in 25% of all our major centers), use of inverter A/C units for renovated branches, installation of metering devices to monitor the improvements in our utility consumption with the implementation of energy conservation projects.
- Encouraged the use of paperless processes across our client base and within our organization.
To build on our environmental contributions, we continue to develop and implement policies, adapt new technologies, and pursue proposed sustainability projects.
Fuel Consumption
We monitor the diesel and gasoline consumption of our service vehicles and stand-by power generation sets from our corporate centers. In 2021, our total fuel consumption was 62,068.3 liters, 59% compared to the previous year. Approximately 67% of the total was used to operate our car fleet.
We provided free shuttle services to our employees who were affected by the pandemic, particularly during the enhanced community quarantine period. Keeping our people secure from the virus as they went to and from work was worth the higher level of fuel consumption in 2020 (as compared to 2021 and 2019).
Power Consumption
The power consumption data from our corporate centers and domestic branches reveal the pandemic’s impact on our operations. As onsite reporting to our offices resume, consistent with the guidelines with the Inter-Agency Task Force for COVID-19, our power usage rose in 2021, with 6% higher consumption than 2020 but lower by 8% from 2019.
Our domestic branches contribute 57% of our total power use in 2021, which in turn is based on the annualized data of 77% of our branch network. We are working to improve the data collection and management to capture the actual power consumptions from all our sites and branches.
Water Consumption
We track our water consumption across our corporate centers and domestic branches to measure our impact on water scarcity. Accordingly, our total water consumption in 2021 was at 225,162 cubic meters, slightly higher than that of 2020, but 19% lower than in 2019.
Meanwhile, around 65% of our total water consumption in 2021 came from the annualized data of 71% of our branch network. We plan to include this metric in the enhancement of our data management system moving forward.
Supplies Used
We use printer toners and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries in the workplace. Overall, our consumption of these two key supplies in 2021 was at par with 2020 levels.
We encourage paperless transactions, both internally and externally, in the course of doing business with our customers. We offer our clients the option to enroll in our electronic Statement of Account feature for a convenient and eco-friendly banking experience.
GHG Emissions
We rigorously examine the way we manage our properties as part of our resource management strategy. Our goal is to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To this end, we make sure our bank vehicles and generator sets undergo regular maintenance so they remain in good condition and minimize carbon emission.
We continue to develop policies, adapt new technologies, and embark on research and feasibility studies to identify opportunities to further reduce our carbon footprint.
Measuring our Carbon Footprint
We adopted the framework and recommendations of the GHG Protocol to measure the Bank’s carbon footprint. We accounted for our GHG emissions using the financial control approach and considered 100% of the total emissions from the Bank’s operations.
Our data on GHG emissions, derived using relevant global and national emission factors*, are directly linked to the scope of our fuel and power consumption across our operations. In 2021, we emitted 28,734 tonnes of CO2e, up 5% from 2020 but down 8% from 2019. Our Scope 2 emissions which arose from our power consumption, accounted for 99% of our total emissions.
Moving forward, we continue to track our fuel and power consumption, as well as implement our energy conservation projects to manage our direct impact on climate change.
Waste Disposal
The proper management of waste is a vital part of our operations and environmental performance. Due to the work-from-home setup, our performance in this area represented a significant improvement from the previous year, which we also attribute to the following initiatives:
- Strict implementation of our Solid Waste Management Program
- Shift to paperless transactions and reuse of paper for printing
- Implementation of a “Boxing Day” program to promote recycling and proper waste disposal
- Existing policy on Recycling and Waste Reduction Management in the Workplace
We monitor the volume of waste that we generate across our corporate centers. The volume of waste recorded in 2021 was smaller than the previous year.
Community Initiatives
Metrobank gives support to environmental projects across the country. One of our successful initiatives was an environmental stewardship program called “You’re in Green Hands” led by our Purple Hearts Club. The program addresses environmental issues by actively supporting activities such as tree planting and mangrove restoration.
Environmental Compliance
Banking is a business built on earning trust. We safeguard our reputation in the same manner we protect our financial position and stakeholders’ interests.
Among the risks we face is non-compliance with environmental laws that lead to regulatory fines and adversely affect our reputation. Thus, we ensure that we adhere to all applicable environmental laws, including the strict implementation of appointing DENR-Pollution Control Officers on our corporate centers and branches.
In 2021, we did not receive any sanctions for non-compliance with environmental laws and/or regulations, as well as any environmental case for dispute resolution.
