The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has become the first Sri Lankan bank to achieve carbon neutrality for the entirety of its operations, encompassing all 268 branches and its head office – a monumental milestone in the Bank’s commitment to the environment.
Becoming a net-zero carbon company was one of Commercial Bank’s Green Goals, to be achieved by the close of its centenary year in 2020. The Bank’s carbon neutral status has been affirmed by Climate Smart Initiatives (Pvt) Ltd., which executed the quantification of the Bank’s carbon footprint in accordance with the ISO 14064‐1‐2018 standard. A total of 13 emission sources covering both direct and indirect emission sources of the Bank were considered for this analysis.
Additionally, the Sri Lanka Climate Fund operating under the Ministry of Environment performed an independent third-party verification in accordance with the ISO 14064-3-2018 guidelines and awarded the prestigious ISO 14064 certificate to the Bank.
Commenting on this achievement, Commercial Bank Managing Director S. Renganathan said: “This is what success looks like to us; working towards the enhancement of shareholder returns without compromising the Bank’s responsibility to society and the environment. We are delighted to have achieved ‘carbon-neutral’ status - no small feat for the largest private bank in the country. The Bank believes that sustainable success is a balancing act – between continuity and change, stability and disruption, being conservative and bold. Our sustainable banking practices have been designed with this in mind.”
The Bank began the process of measuring its carbon footprint in 2017 as its first step to reducing its environmentally harmful emissions. Mitigation actions such as the installment of solar PV systems, efficient AC systems, LED lighting and such were introduced even before the carbon footprint measuring process began. Currently, 49 branches of the Bank are powered partially or entirely by solar energy.
Subsequent to the environment-friendly adjustments, the Bank managed to reduce emissions attributed to the consumption of grid-connected electricity from 8,172 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) in 2017 to 7,649 tCO2e in 2019. This 5.88% decrease in grid-connected electricity consumption led to the reduction of total Green House Gas (GHG) emissions of the Bank from 13,055 tCO2e to 12,121 tCO2e, which is more than a 7% decline over the two years.
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