OCBC to invest over S$25m in decarbonisation efforts
Tan Nai Lun
OCBC will invest more than S$25 million in its operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Greater China in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint.
The investments, which will be used to deploy energy-efficient technology and solar energy systems, are expected to cut around 10,000 tonnes of carbon emissions within the next 4 years, or equivalent to removing some 10,000 cars from the road, OCBC said in a statement on Wednesday (May 25).
OCBC plans to retrofit its managed buildings and data centres with more energy-efficient technologies. This includes installing a rack-based cooling system at its regional data centre – which contributes 40 per cent of the bank’s carbon emissions in Singapore – by the end of 2022.
The lender is also installing solar energy systems in 9 of its buildings in Singapore, Malaysia and Greater China by 2024. The energy generated is expected to generate over 2,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy per year, which is equivalent to powering more than 600 3-room HDB flats.
As for its other offices across its markets, OCBC said it is reviewing to assess their suitability for future solar energy installations.
Among other efforts, OCBC plans to convert its fleet of corporate cars to electric vehicles and deploy electric vehicle charging facilities at major commercial buildings, noting that it has already installed 10 charging points at OCBC Centre in Singapore earlier in March.
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The lender also aims to achieve Green Mark certifications for all its retail branches by 2030.
OCBC group chief operating officer Lim Khiang Tong said building a sustainable future is “simply non-negotiable” and it is “all in our hands”.
“It is with this in mind that our priority is to accelerate our own decarbonisation efforts.”
OCBC, which purchases carbon credits to eliminate the residual and unavoidable emissions, added that it will reduce these carbon offset projects once the investment in its decarbonisation efforts bears fruit.
The lender has aimed to achieve carbon neutrality in operational emissions from 2022. Of its past efforts, OCBC had committed to no longer finance new coal-fired power plants. It also doubled its sustainable finance portfolio targets to S$50 billion by 2025, after surpassing its original S$25 billion target when it reached more than S$34 billion in commitment in 2021.
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