#OCBCCares
Our #OCBCCares Programme focuses on doing our part to protect the environment and helping the more vulnerable in society.
We partner government bodies, advocates, citizen groups, customers and our employees to fight climate change.
We support reforestation and restoration projects in the region to help fight climate change.
Singapore’s first seagrass restoration project
Seagrass meadows are an important blue carbon habitat with the potential to store carbon 40 times more effectively than terrestrial forests. They are crucial to the environment and provide protection to marine habitats and coastal areas.
OCBC’s reforestation projects
With multiple reforestation projects that will absorb more than 111 million kg of CO2 in their lifetimes across the region, we can build a better world when we do our part – For now and beyond.
Our latest projects in the region
- Singapore’s first large-scale ecological mangrove restoration project, The OCBC Mangrove Park, located at Sungei Durian on Pulau Ubin
- A second mangrove project in Malaysia, located at Tebuk Mendeleng, Selangor
We will help grow 18,000 mangrove trees in these two sites. These trees can absorb more than 30 million kg of CO₂ in their lifetimes and will protect our shorelines against erosion and storm surges.
OCBC Arboretum
First-of-its-kind high-tech arboretum in Southeast Asia which houses more than 2,000 specimens of over 200 species of Dipterocarps.
Habitat Enhancement Programme at Coney Island
The plants introduced will act as seed sources for the subsequent regeneration of the natural ecosystem, building up the overall plant diversity in this area.
Harnessing wind and solar energy to generate CO₂-free...
We are contributing to the shift towards a low-carbon world through supporting our customers in renewable energy projects – from wind and solar farms, electric cars, hybrid buses to solar panel installation.
OCBC Arboretum
Located at Singapore Botanic Gardens, this is a forest of 2,000 endangered dipterocarp trees. These trees can store 80 million kg of CO2 in their lifetimes.
#OCBCCares Environment Fund
Our #OCBCCares Environment Fund offers financing for the implementation of ground-up, actionable solutions that can help enhance sustainability in Singapore.
From 2017 to 2020, the Fund supported 15 projects amounting to $265,000. In 2022, it will fund projects that are aligned with the Singapore Green Plan.
Financing Positive Environmental-Impact Activities
OCBC was the first bank in Southeast Asia to stop financing new coal-fired plants. We are glad that more banks are doing the same. OCBC has announced a strong ambition in increasing our financing into green assets/projects such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable water and wastewater management, green buildings and clean public transportations, among others.
Infrastructure
Award-winning Data Centre
Our Data Centre which received BCA-IMDA Green Mark Platinum Award - the highest standard achievable in Singapore - is 30% more energy-efficient than standard centres in Southeast Asia. Its CO2 emissions are 9.6 million kg less than the standard data centre.
It uses a Chill Water Cooling System that utilises industrial-grade recycled NEWater for its Cooling Towers. The entire data centre back-up electrical power is clean and emissions-friendly, thanks to our Diesel Rotary Uninterruptible Power Supply (or DRUPS), which stores kinetic energy. This is unlike Static Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), a system dependent on numerous batteries and whose production, charging and disposal cause high emissions.
Green buildings & branches
Several of our buildings achieved BCA Green Mark Awards, with OCBC Centre, the oldest historic site in Singapore, certified with a Green Mark Gold Certification Award.
We proactively adopt energy and water-saving measures and promote recycling in our buildings.
- Undertake retrofitting of our buildings mechanical and electrical services such as lifts, air-conditioning systems, lightings, energy and water sensors, to maximise energy efficiency and lower water consumptions
- Encourage occupants to be energy conscious while occupying our premises and also promotes recycling within the offices.
Services and support
Recycling
To encourage recycling, we asked our customers to place their used red packets into collection boxes placed in all our branches after Chinese New Year 2020. Response was positive – we collected close to 4,000 kg of red packets which were pulped and recycled into 10,400 cardboard boxes.
Single-use Plastics
Since 2017, we have stopped serving bottled water at all our branches in Singapore. That amounts to 70,000kg of plastic waste saved annually.
Digital services
Our digital solutions make banking convenient, paperless and helps support a low-carbon lifestyle. We encourage our customers to use e-statements, e-receipts and SMS notifications. We constantly look at how to improve our e-services to encourage them to transact online.