MB ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
Sustainability is an integral part of San Miguel Corporation’s (SMC) operations as reducing its impact on the environment and fostering social inclusion are ingrained in the conglomerate’s culture.
Through its commitment to good corporate governance and citizenship, long-established circular economy practices, stewardship of the environment, and continuing efforts to improve the lives of SMC’s employees and communities, the group has championed sustainability across our business.
Recognizing the urgency of addressing pressing economic, social, and environmental concerns, SMC began a journey in 2017 that has seen the company meet head-on a number of critical sustainability issues.
Six years ago, SMC exited the plastic bottled water business and soon after, it had set a goal to cut by 50 percent its Group-wide use of utility water by 2025.
More initiatives have followed since. SMC has pioneered the use of recycled plastics wastes for road construction at its logistics facilities in Cavite.
SMC has continued to help tackle the issue of solid waste pollution through key projects that include a pioneering effort to build the country’s first recycled plastics road, and today, its clean-up of major river systems to mitigate flooding and rehabilitate rivers counted as among the world’s largest plastic emitters.
Recently, it officially completed its ₱1-billion Tullahan River cleanup initiative and is also undertaking a multi-billion-peso clean-up of the Pasig River. SMC also started cleanup efforts for Bulacan river systems.
SMC has also delivered key infrastructure projects that addresses the country’s problem with continuously worsening traffic congestion, that limits economic growth and harms the environment through emissions from hours of stand-still traffic.
Meanwhile, SMC is developing the largest Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) network in the Philippines and Southeast Asia which will serve to ensure that quality power supply is delivered even to far-flung areas, such as islands and mountain regions, where access to power is still an issue.
The BESS network will provide Filipinos with a sustainable power storage solution, support rural electrification, and help the transition to renewable energy. It is designed to minimize electricity wastage and will be critical to enabling the integration of more renewables into the grid.
SMC’s power and beer subsidiaries have also invested in nationwide reforestation efforts to help mitigate carbon emissions. San Miguel Global Power alone has planted and grown over five million upland and mangrove trees, across some 1,500 hectares of land from December 2019 to date. This is part of a multi-year, nationwide forestation and carbon capture program.
SMC has conducted coastal cleanup drives in Calatagan and Balayan in Batangas, where a total of 1,340 bags full of garbage have been collected initially.
The Group’s response to the pandemic and its impact on the most disadvantaged Filipinos and SMC’s continuing social development initiatives have helped address issues of hunger, poverty, and lack of opportunity while engaging and empowering other stakeholders to do their part as well.
SMC continues to develop livelihood and educational initiatives at its project sites to help improve the lives of families and partners in its host communities. SMC also continuously implements programs for its employees to ensure they are able to contribute to improving the lives of others.
The firm has also built housing communities for victims of natural calamities, unrest, as well as those at its project sites. It also continues to provide scholarships and feeding support for disadvantaged students.
SMC has completed 450 sustainable housing units at San Miguel-Christian Gayeta Homes for fisherfolk-relocatees in Sariaya, Quezon. Included in the development are the Sariaya Fishermen’s Dock and Fishermen’s Hall, as well as the San Miguel Market where fishermen and their families can sell their catch and market their other products. Through a partnership with TESDA, beneficiaries were provided training for skills needed to manage their small businesses or gain employment.
Recently, SMC rolled out a youth development program focusing on children of disadvantaged families near its development sites, as part of efforts to help improve learning outcomes. The SMC Educational Assistance Program will benefit some 292 elementary, junior high, senior high, and college students around communities it serves in Bulacan, Quezon province, Batangas, General Santos City.
The company also partners with nongovernmental organizations on various social development projects in order to empower those who are better equipped to effect positive change in specific areas of concern.
Malasakit is the core value of SMC and is deeply ingrained in its company culture. As such, the firm continues to make a positive impact in its communities, developing programs that have a deeper and longer-lasting impact for those battling hunger, inequality, and lack of opportunity.
Through its flagship corporate social responsibility program, its Better World Community Centers, SMC works to address critical social issues through partnerships with non-profit groups who are given access to SMC's vast resources and networks to strengthen their efforts.
Last year, SMC opened Better World Cubao, a health, empowerment, and recovery (H.E.R.) center for women from underprivileged backgrounds, including victims of violence.
In 2022, SMC tapped global firm Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) to help the Group focus its efforts and plan how best to deliver transformative change, and impact on particular areas of sustainability, including reducing carbon emissions, improving circular economy and supply chain management, and uplifting more communities.
Each of SMC’s businesses is likewise actively engaged in pursuing greater sustainability, aligned with SMC’s mission, vision, values, and goals while taking on issues and challenges unique to their industries.