My first Publication ocbc_ar17_fullreport_english | Page 63

SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
ENVIRONMENT
WHY WE HAVE ADDITIONALLY DISCLOSED THIS
The environmental impact arising from the operational activities of financial institutions is relatively small, compared to companies
operating within the industrial sector. But we realise that environmental sustainability is of prime importance to Singapore and the
world at large. In this regard, we have decided to additionally disclose our environmental impact despite it not being a material ESG
factor to the Bank.
MANAGEMENT AND EVALUATION OTHERS
This disclosure focuses on
our electricity and water
consumption, as well as our
generated carbon emissions
in accordance with the GRI
Standards that apply to the
environmental impact from
an organisation’s operations. We introduced the #OCBCCares Fund for the Environment in 2017 to fund projects that
have a sustainable and positive impact on the environment, paying out a total of up to
S$100,000 annually.
We are committed to ensuring
that our building and branch
operations are environmentally
friendly and create minimal
impact on the environment.
Our Group Property Management
division adopts recycling and
energy-saving measures in
our buildings, including the
installation of automatic sensor
taps and energy-saving lighting
and air-conditioning systems.
One way we evaluate our
environmental impact is
through our utilities bills, which
reflect our consumption of
resources. If there are significant
variances across the months,
we will conduct an analysis to
understand the causes. This will
also help us better manage
consumption in future.
Please refer to #OCBCCares Programme on page 34.
PERFORMANCE AND TARGETS
Electricity usage (kWh ’000)
Electricity usage intensity (kWh/sf)
Carbon emission* (Tonne CO 2 )
Carbon emission intensity (kg CO 2 /sf)
Water usage (m 3 )
Water usage intensity (m 3 /sf)
2016 2017
80,462
21.3
40,242
10.6
410,114
0.1 84,672
22.4
41,200
10.9
402,255
0.1
* Emission Factor Source: Institute of Global Environment Strategies (IGES) –
IGES Grid Emission Factors Version 9.2
We will continue to seek new solutions to reduce our environmental impact across
our operations.
CASE STUDY
INITIATIVE TO REDUCE PLASTIC WASTE
Our Consumer Financial
Services (CFS) division
embarked on an
initiative in September
2017 to eliminate single-
use plastic materials.
Our colleagues were
inspired to take action
after an organised
coastal clean-up event
OCBC employees doing their part to reduce plastic waste by serving
at the Pasir Ris beach in
water to branch visitors in 100% biodegradable cups
Singapore, where they
witnessed 1.5 tonnes of trash collected within two hours – the bulk of it being
unrecycled plastic waste.
The first task, as part of developing an environmentally sustainable culture
within our premises, was to eliminate the use of plastic bottled water at our
CFS Singapore headquarters. This was then extended to the entire network
of branches in Singapore. As a replacement, we now serve water in 100%
biodegradable cups to our customers and visitors. This simple act has saved an
estimated 70,000 single-use plastic bottles since the start of the initiative and
will save an estimated 5,000kg of plastic waste annually.
BUILDING ON OUR CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
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