Ayala Corporation (Ayala) was re-confirmed as a constituent of the FTSE4GOOD Index Series following the June 2019 review of its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance.
London-based FTSE Russell, a global sustainability index provider, first formally included Ayala as a constituent in its FTSE4GOOD Index Series in 2016, specifically in the FTSE4Good Emerging Indexes and FTSE4Good ASEAN 5 Index.
This Index Series is designed to help market participants create or assess sustainable investment products, research environmentally and socially sustainable companies, and provide a transparent and evolving global ESG standard on which companies could benchmark their performance.
Over the last several years, Ayala has participated in the global sustainability surveys such as Robecosam, a sustainable investment specialist, and CDP (formerly the “Carbon Disclosure Project”), a not-for-profit group that measures companies’ environmental impact worldwide. MSCI Inc., which provides ESG Sustainable Impact Metrics, also regularly evaluates the Ayala group.
Ayala embraces a holistic view of sustainability that is instilled throughout its companies.
This includes a continuing pledge to measure and report business impact, and verify, benchmark, and continuously improve on these contributions based on globally recognized standards.
The group is committed to the highest standards of disclosure to enable its stakeholders to see a true picture of its financial condition, system of governance, and progress toward profitability and sustainability.
“At Ayala, it is necessary for our companies to be sensitive to the needs of our communities, which helps us determine our business models and methods and work toward our sustainability goals. You can only create long-term value when you build on a strategy focused on sustainability. Investors recognize this and thus focus on ESG performance. Ultimately, this drive for sustainability is meant to ensure that Ayala’s businesses not only create value but leave a meaningful impact in the communities where we serve,” said Ayala CFO and Chief Sustainability Officer Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco.
To illustrate this, Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI), the Philippines’ leading developer of sustainable estates, announced an aggressive plan back in 2017 to become carbon neutral by 2022.
Through various initiatives, it reduced its Green House Gas emissions by end-2018 by 62%, surpassing the expected 48% reduction.
It also prioritizes four focus areas in all its estates, namely site resilience, pedestrian mobility and transit connectivity, eco-efficiency and local economic development.
In healthcare, AC Health is building an ecosystem of affordable, accessible, quality healthcare.
It aims to serve 1 in 5 Filipinos in the next five to ten years through its primary care community-based clinic chain FamilyDOC, retail pharmacy Generika, and soon, the Philippines’ first cancer specialty hospital.
It also pioneered the country’s first digital health portfolio that aims to serve more than one million Filipinos by 2020.
In the education space, Ayala, through its involvement in iPeople, aims to provide affordable and quality education through its Affordable Private Education Centers (APEC) Schools, continued management of University of Nueva Caceres (UNC), and the acquisition of National Teachers College (NTC).
Moreover, Ayala extends job placement support to graduating students through its Professional Employment Program (PEP).
As of 2018, it reached over 60,000 students and produced 4,449 graduates from its high schools and colleges. In some universities and other partner schools, Ayala works closely with employers to co-design a semester-long curriculum that is customized to employment needs.
As a result, 90% of graduates who have undergone this co-designed program are employed within 90 days, and with 20% higher starting salaries.
To help reach the unbanked majority Filipinos, Ayala is providing alternative means to access the financial system through BPI’s BanKo, which to date has disbursed P4 billion of microloans to 60,000 entrepreneurs across its 200 branches nationwide.
In addition, Mynt, a partnership among Globe Telecom, Ayala Corporation and Ant Financial, harnesses mobile technology and alternative credit scoring models to likewise provide microloans to its 171,000 users with active credit lines.
To date, Mynt has disbursed P640 million of credit. BPI and Mynt continue to complement each other to make financial services more convenient and accessible.
In the energy sector, AC Energy is continuously investing in renewable energy to meet the need of the Filipinos for affordable and reliable energy sources. It is on track to attain its target of increasing its renewable energy portfolio to 5GW by 2030.
As the first Philippine company to join the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Ayala has aligned its strategies with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) through the Ayala Blueprint that was launched earlier in 2019 as a guide to bridge Filipinos to 2030.
This is a group-wide plan specifically designed to enable Ayala businesses to champion UN SDGs and tangibly contribute to three pillars where its businesses can generate the most significant and lasting impact.
These are: access and inclusivity, productivity and competitiveness, and responsible growth and innovation.
“I believe that now, more than ever, a deeper engagement with society is indispensable to the survival and success of private enterprises. From both a practical and moral standpoint, business cannot thrive in an environment rife with economic inequity. Ignoring these issues threatens our ability to create long-term value and jeopardizes the sustainability of the enterprise and markets,” said Ayala Chairman & CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, who was named a UN SDG Pioneer for Sustainable Business Strategy and Operations in 2017.
Sustainability continues to transform Ayala’s approach to businesses, as seen in the group’s pioneering integrated reporting in the country in 2016, and the integration of sustainability with Risk Management in 2018 and Governance in 2019. Ayala has been reporting its sustainability performance since 2008. / celr