Integrating sustainability with corporate strategy

AT AYALA CORP., sustainability is at the core of our purpose of building businesses that enable people to thrive. As such, sustainability is embedded into strategies across the Ayala Group. This has driven the transformation of our businesses into being recognized as among the green leaders in their respective industries. We are proud that Ayala Land, BPI, Globe, ACEN, and ACMobility have pioneered or are accelerating programs that are contributing to greening the economy.

Continuing our transformation requires professionals with a deep understanding of sustainability’s value and who can drive its continued adoption within Ayala. These green job holders are part of dedicated sustainability teams empowered to ensure business performance is delivered with positive environmental and social impact.

We are also mindful that sustainability goes beyond just our core sustainability team. Our corporate strategy, business development, investor relations, and treasury teams, among others, are updated on the latest and most relevant thinking in sustainability to ensure that it is embedded into our long-term planning and investments, as well as in the sourcing of sustainable financing. We are proud that Ayala has raised over $3.4 billion in sustainable financing, benefiting our key business units. Ayala Corp. has likewise recently approved a Sustainable Investing Framework, ensuring that we deliberately incorporate environmental and social impact in upcoming investment decisions.

As sustainability drives greater results, we see more opportunities to increase the ranks of green job holders in our businesses responsible for protecting ecosystems and biodiversity, driving efficiency to reduce consumption of energy and materials, decarbonizing operations and minimizing waste.

For example, Ayala Land architects and environmental planners are incorporating sustainable designs in estates and being certified as green building professionals under the LEED and BERDE standards. Ayala Land also has people focused on sustainable procurement and waste management, and specialists assigned to incorporate renewable energy solutions such as solar panels and wind turbines into real estate projects.

TRAINING PROGRAMS PREPARE FOR GREEN JOBSAlongside hiring more green professionals, we are supporting the continued learning and development of our current workforce on sustainability.

Ayala Land offers several internal trainings to refresh and update our sustainability teams on relevant topics including quarterly forums on Decarbonization and Project Life Cycle Analysis, Regenerative Design and Sustainable Landscaping, Water Resource Management, and Energy Solutions and Circular Economy on Waste and Materials Management. External partners are also tapped for specialized training and certification on sustainability reporting and green building standards.

Every year, the Ayala Group also sends participants to the Leadership Program of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Since 2020, we have sent 10 of our top talents from Ayala Corp., Ayala Land, ACEN, BPI, Globe, and ACMobility to this intensive program to learn, work with global peers, and develop action projects to enhance Ayala’s sustainability standing.

The training is not limited to Sustainability teams. Across the Group, Sustainability and Human Resources teams are working closely to identify ways to more widely embed the value of sustainability among all employees.

Annually, we hold an Integrated Corporate Governance, Risk Management, and Sustainability Summit, where members of the boards of our companies, executives, and practitioners are provided with the latest information on issues around these three areas. We strive to get the best global thinkers and practitioners to speak at this summit. Last year, we were honored to have Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, deliver our keynote, alongside our other speakers which included climate scientists, risk management professionals, and a head of sustainability from a regional corporate leader.

Another interesting program is Globe’s Sustainability Academy, an online learning and development initiative rolled out to its 8,000 people in 2021 to teach employees how to practice sustainability at home and at work.

Given its success, Globe opened the Sustainability Academy to select MSME partners in 2023 to engage them in environmental, social, and governance principles and practices, to collectively create a positive and greater impact on society.

GOVERNMENT COLLABORATION, SUPPORT NEEDEDWe are studying additional initiatives, including possible research, talent development, and project execution collaborations with academic institutions here and overseas, to support our workforce development requirements for sustainability.

While our Group is committed to advance the sustainability agenda here in the Philippines and overseas, government investments on education are also critical so Philippine schools can produce a workforce that supports the drive of industries for sustainability. We recognize that no single institution, nor the private sector acting alone, can produce the necessary talent at scale to meet the needs of the green economy, and take advantage of the opportunities that committing to sustainability makes possible.

Francisco Romero Milán is the chief human resources officer of Ayala Corp.