Ayala Land receives high ESG scores

Property developer Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) said its sustainability roadmap received notable scores last year from various international groups which recognized the company’s environment, social and governance (ESG) efforts, according to a report by BusinessMirror.

Ayala Land said its latest achievement is a B rating for water management given by the CDP, or the Carbon Disclosure Project, the highest rating for the Philippines. Another Ayala firm, Manila Water Co. Inc., got the same rating. As the only Philippine member with leadership rating since 2020, Ayala Land said it also maintained its A- rating on the CDP Score Report on Climate Change, which is higher than Asia’s regional average of C. This puts the company on a par with other Asian entities, such as Singapore’s City Developments Ltd., Japan’s Hulic Co Ltd. and Mitsubishi Estate Company Ltd.

The CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for investors, companies, cities and governments to assess and manage their environmental impact and is considered the gold standard in corporate environment reporting.

Also last year, S&P Global ranked Ayala Land within the 96th percentile, which is an improved score from 2021. This puts the company’s  sustainability performance at the top 4 percent within the real estate industry, simultaneously making them the highest ranked company in the country.

The company said it retained its Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) membership for the 9th year, while still being the only Philippine member. The DJSI tracks the world’s largest companies’ sustainability initiatives by analyzing corporate economic, environmental, and social performances.

Meanwhile, Ayala Land’s Sustainalytics standing remains at “low risk,” with its score of 16.9, an improvement from the previous year’s 17.3. Similarly, Ayala Land retained its MSCI rating of BB.

“With today’s focus on sustainability, circular economy, and going green, industries usually put emphasis on looking forward and creating a better world than we found it. The scores that ALI received were not achieved overnight. Forwarding sustainable development not only within the organization but in the country is an ambitious goal, and reaching its 2022 achievement of exceeding controllable carbon targets was 5 years in the making,” the company said.

“We will be clearly defining our year-on-year targets so that we can measure and reach our 2030 carbon reduction and 2050 Net Zero goals. To achieve this, we will be working in partnership with our suppliers and customers to ensure that our initiatives are in line with our business goals,” company president and CEO Bernard Vincent O. Dy said.

Ayala Land made bolder commitments of reducing and removing 100 percent of controllable emissions within the group by 2030, and reaching net zero emissions by 2050.