Bank of the Philippine Islands is used to being a pioneer. It was an early adopter of sustainable finance principles as long ago as the 1980s.
Chief executive Jose Teodoro Limcaoco says that his management team is working to further embed sustainability into the bank’s DNA. BPI’s unique sustainability formula – ESG+E₂ – emphasizes the need for ESG initiatives to result in economic gains (the E₂ part) to stakeholders in order to be truly sustainable.
BPI now has a dynamic board-approved sustainability agenda that guides how the bank balances the integration of sustainability principles into its overall profit objectives as well as its corporate governance and risk-management frameworks.
In 2022, the bank's sustainable development finance programme moved to finance an additional 28 sustainable projects, amounting to P30.06 billion ($540 million); this brings the bank’s total to 398 projects worth P252 billion, an unprecedented number in the Philippines.
Of that total, 167 projects focus on energy efficiency, 113 on renewable energy sources and 118 on climate resilience and sustainable agriculture. These have cut greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 31 million tonnes in carbon dioxide equivalent terms (tCO2e) a year.
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