NDB takes first step towards assessing carbon footprint

From left: Sharon De Silva, Senior Manager - NDB Corporate Sustainability, Shanka Abeywardene, Assistant Vice President - NDB Corporate Planning & Business Intelligence, Melody Wickramanayake, Chairperson NDB CS Committee and Vice President - NDB Legal, Chamara Ariyathilaka, CEO - SLCF, Gayan Madusanka, Project Executive - SLCF, Harshani Abeyrathna, Verification Manager - SLCF

NDB Bank embarked on a project to understand and manage the bank’s climate change impacts. As the first step, the bank signed an MOU with the verification body ‘Sri Lanka Climate Fund’ (SLCF) to ascertain the bank’s ‘Carbon Footprint’ - also known as ‘GHG Assessment’.

Commenting on the project, the Chairperson of the NDB Corporate Sustainability Committee Melody Wickramanayake acknowledged that climate action is a key focus area in the bank’s sustainability agenda. 
“The goal is to proceed towards being Carbon Neutral which will benefit our planet in many ways. It will also increase efficiencies within the organisation since identifying and quantifying CO2 emissions help to identify & rectify excessive energy usage or other inefficiencies,” she said.

The initiation was taken to mark Earth Day, an annual event held on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. On Earth Day business entities and people celebrate and appreciate the planet whilst taking action to sustain the existence of Earth. Our planet is facing serious challenges with ‘Global Warming’ and the resulting climate change being the most significant environmental challenge of this century. 

Climate change is affecting every nation, disrupting economies and affecting lives. By addressing climate change, NDB Bank acknowledges that a sustainable world can be built for everyone and the time to act is now.

Meanwhile, training was also conducted for key internal stakeholders by the GHG Expert - Dr. Lalith Senaweera, Retired Director General/ CEO of the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) and GHG Verifier - Gayan Madusanka, GHG validation and Verification Division, Sri Lanka Climate Fund (Pvt) Ltd.