SM Prime vows to speed up shift to clean energy

MANILA, Philippines — SM Prime Holdings Inc., one of the leading integrated property developers in Southeast Asia, sets a new milestone in its sustainability program as it commits to expand its power supply portfolio toward clean energy across all of its business segments over the medium term.

“Sustainability has always been a part of SM’s strategy and we are continuously exploring ways to promote environmental consciousness in our operations and developments. We are now embarking on a program to utilize more of renewable energy in our business operations to minimize environmental impact,” said SM Prime president Jeffrey Lim.

The company targets to increase the share of renewable energy in its electricity consumption by more than 50 percent across all of its business segments by end-2022, in support of the Department of Energy’s program of moving up the renewable energy supply component of the country to 35 percent by 2030.

In addition, it will also expand the use of solar roof decks in its various properties to partly meet the electricity requirements of its business operations.

As of the first half this year, SM Prime has eight facilities under the DOE’s Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) scheme that are utilizing clean energy in its operation with a total capacity of 7.7 megawatts. Through the program, the number of facilities using clean energy will be increased to more than 50, with a combined maximum capacity of 140 MW.

SM Prime is also already working out diversification of energy sources even in developments where RCOA scheme is not yet implemented.

Through these efforts, the company is committed to provide affordable and clean energy to its tenant-partners, minimizing the carbon footprint emission in its operations.

Along with other environmental care and protection programs of SM Prime, the continuous development of the company’s sustainable program is an effort initiated by Hans Sy, SM Prime chairman of the Executive Committee and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s (UNDRR) Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies (ARISE) co-chair, which started in 2013.

“As we continue to strive for more sustainable operations, SM Prime will keep working towards a future-proofed business by developing proactive solutions through partnership with various public and private entities that can further improve our way of business and reduce the carbon footprints generated in our operations,” Lim said.