SUSTAINABLE FINANCING. RCBC president and CEO Eugene Acevedo on Tuesday (Oct. 24, 2023) reiterates the bank's commitment to promoting sustainability. He said the bank aims to have zero exposure to coal-fired power plant by 2031. (PNA photo by Anna Leah Gonzales)
MANILA – Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) is on track to meeting its target of zero exposure to coal-fired power plant by 2031.
"For more than 10 years now, we have been embracing sustainability as part of our lending strategy and operations when we established our own environmental and social management system in 2011," RCBC president and CEO Eugene Acevedo said on the sidelines of RCBC's Sustainability Forum 2023 held at the RCBC Plaza in Makati City on Tuesday.
"As far as funding our projects goes, we were the first bank to declare we will no longer fund coal-fired power plants and we aim to have zero participation in such projects by 2031," he added.
In 2020, the bank publicy declared that it will cease funding for the construction of new coal power plants in the country.
Acevedo said over the past decade, RCBC funded more than 3 gigawatts of renewable energy projects.
Since 2019, RCBC has also issued USD1.4 billion worth of sustainable financing instruments that refinanced its funding for more than 8,000 sustainable projects.
Acevedo said RCBC is currently working on a pipeline of other wind and solar projects.
"We even have some hydro and geothermal, as well. Wind is no longer simple wind. We're doing offshore wind," he said.
"We are not keeping sustainability to ourselves. We are making sustainability accessible to our customers and investors through sustainable financing instruments. They can get in the action and participate in building a more sustainable future."
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas earlier urged financial institutions to be enablers of environmentally and socially responsible business decisions. (PNA)
