SBI, India’s biggest commercial bank, which has committed to achieve Carbon Neutral status by 2030, has reduced its Scope 2 GHG emissions by 9.13%, its Sustainability Report 2018-19 revealed.
During the reporting period, SBI planted approximately 90,000 tree saplings across India.
Joining the initiative to transition to 100% electric vehicles in its operations by 2030, as a first step, its Corporate Office has procured one electric vehicle to be used by its employees for local commute.
Report informed that, SBI, the only Indian Bank to join the EV-100 group, inagurated Electric Vehicle “E-Verito” at its Corporate Centre. It has replaced generators on pilot basis at few Rural and semiurban branches with solar backup batteries. It has established captive wind mills of 15 MW capacity and solar rooftop capacity of 17 MW.
The Scope 2 Guidance standardises how corporations measure emissions from purchased or acquired electricity, steam, heat and cooling –called “scope 2 emissions”. The Scope 2 Guidance was developed with the input of with over 200 representatives from companies, electricity utilities, government agencies, academia, industry associations, and civil society in over 23 countries. It is required reading for companies that follow the Corporate Standard.
As per the report, SBI’s strategy to enhance its sustainability performance has been incremental in nature since the start of its journey five years ago. The Bank has striven to focus on key improvements to be made on an annual basis. This has resulted in several action points and initiatives being implemented during the reporting period.
It Board has approved Sustainability Policy to govern the Bank’s sustainability practices across all its operations, including subsidiaries and Joint Ventures (JVs). The important areas of intervention incorporated within the policy includes minimising its environmental footprint, reducing water consumption, managing the quantity of waste generated, investing in renewable energy as well as creating awareness on the importance of environmental sustainability. In this line, it has also issued Green Bonds. Bank is also committed to enhance the level of disclosure on SBI’s GHG footprint and mitigation strategies leading to a better score on CDP compared to the previous year.
