Our materiality assessment
The sustainability context facing our business is changing faster than ever before. At OCBC, we take a long-term approach to assessing our materiality matters, considering ESG topics that can impact all stakeholders as well as our operations now and in the longer term.
As part of our ongoing monitoring of ESG factors, we conducted an annual review in 2021. This was done to identify new ESG factors that have emerged from recent global events and validate the ongoing relevance of existing material ESG factors. We also sought to ensure that our selected United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) continued to be relevant.
To ensure an objective review of our approach, an external consultant conducted our materiality assessment and performed a gap analysis of OCBC’s material topics against global ESG best practices in the financial industry. Current sustainability trends and issues were also taken into consideration.
Our current material topics and the SDGs remain relevant to our operations, aligned to industry best practices. However, we ramped up efforts and disclosures in responsible financing, sustainable financing, sustainability-themed products and investing, as well as our environmental footprint, to reflect our commitment to embracing the global climate agenda. This is further supported by the Group’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality for OCBC’s banking operational emissions in 2022. We believe our focus on climate action and the sustainable transition is crucial at this juncture to preserve resources for the generations to come.