Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is now the buzzword and is at the forefront of a number of corporates and financial institutions, including rotary clubs, that are devoted to serving the community.
As part of its corporate social responsibility, a number of corporates and financial institutions have incorporated ESG in their way of doing business. It’s basically a framework used to assess an organization's business practices and performance on various sustainability and ethical issues. Likewise, it provides a way to measure business risks and opportunities in those areas.
Diversified conglomerate, San Miguel Corporation, Yuchengco controlled Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and the Rotary Club Makati-Paseo de Roxas (RCM-PDR) stand out in their respective field placing ESG as one of the cornerstones in their business operations, programs and projects.
Environmental degradation is one of the challenging problems the country is facing right now. I have to salute San Miguel, RCBC and RCM-PDR for being the foremost advocates of ESG.
I witnessed how then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in an environmental symposium at the sidelines of the 2007 annual World Economic Forum in Davos, captured the audience, sharing that the Philippines has already taken steps to safeguard the country’s environment with the passage of the Solid Waste Management Act of 2001 that addressed garbage crisis.
Fast-forward to now, the country, amidst this initiative, has been tagged as one of the most “vulnerable” economies to climate crisis because of the heedless and careless garbage disposal, ending up in the water systems.
Industry’s fifth top lender RCBC is steadfast in embracing ESG in its lending portfolio. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to be part of RCBC’s 2023 sustainability forum and I was amazed by its progress following the setting up of its environmental and social management system under the helm of Lorenzo V. Tan, known in the banking industry as “LVT” in 2011 when ESG was still a “startup” initiative.
As an aside, LVT and RCBC President and CEO Eugene S. Acevedo (EDSA) are both alumni of Citibank and Philippine National Bank.
Carrying on LVT’s ESG footprint, sustainability has prevailed and will continue to prevail in the bank’s lending strategy and operations. Despite the perceived high return on its exposure, for nearly three years now, RCBC has been shying-away from participating or lending to coal-fired power plants. Instead, the bank has keen interest in renewable projects, particularly windmills and solar energy projects.
San Miguel, on the other hand, has taken its ESG footprints to the next level by joining forces with no less than the national government and involving the local governments in its environmental-related projects, particularly in cleaning up silted rivers that cause massive flooding in the metropolis.
As water and air pollution levels already surpassed the generally accepted health standard levels largely due to rapid and dynamic urbanization, San Miguel President Ramon S. Ang is resolute in his commitment to clean up major rivers and waterways, dipping into the company’s coffers sans financial contribution from the state.
San Miguel’s river-cleanup efforts are aligned with the government's environmental objectives. It’s the blue chips’ way of giving back to its stakeholders – we the consumers. “We are doing this as a public service, at no cost to the government or taxpayers,” Ang has said.
Meanwhile, RCM-PDR is likewise doing its share by educating communities on the correct plastic waste disposal in collaboration with Pure Ocean. Mismanaged plastic waste is a primary cause of environmental degradation. This is a sustaining project of RCM-PDR President Fame de los Santos, SGV’s head of the Big Tax System.
In their own respective ways, San Miguel, RCBC and RCM-PDR are doing their share to protect our environment for the future generations to enjoy. Salute!
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