AFC’s Sustainability approach to protect the environment

Inauguration of 1 million trees with the blessings of religious leaders

Alliance Finance Company PLC, (AFC), Sri Lanka’s oldest finance company with 65 years of expertise in offering affordable and inclusive Sustainable Finance solutions to empower the nation has a shared vision to foster growth and prosperity of its customers while building trust and enduring relationships with them. Environmental and social Sustainability initiatives are at the centre of AFC’s Sustainability agenda, which embeds the company’s drive towards the triple bottom line approach. AFC has been at the forefront of community support initiatives since its inception in 1956. During the last decade, AFC has developed a business model whilst integrating the core principles of sustainability into the business to ensure focused sustainable value creation to support national and global sustainable development priorities. Over the years, AFC has focused on sustainable investments for many social and environmental wellbeing programs in partnership with like-minded stakeholders. AFC makes a minimum investment of at least 4% annually from its total profit towards social and environmental wellbeing initiatives.

AFC’s flagship environmental sustainability project is “One Million Trees for Unity”, which was launched in 2019 as the second phase of the AFC “Thuru Mithuru” program. During the first phase of the program in 2018, AFC pioneered a concept of planting over 176,000 trees in 991 school premises across the island with the participation of over 370,000 school children, in one day. AFC’s latest tree planting campaign pledges to plant 1 million trees by 2024 and support the fight against climate change whilst fostering ethnic harmony. The ongoing project has contributed over 350,000 trees to Mother Nature with the support of project partners such as the Road Development Authority (RDA), Lions Club, Norochcholai Power Plant, State Universities, Schools and places of religious worship whilst making AFC the single largest contributor to tree planting efforts in Sri Lanka. Supporting social entrepreneur development, biodiversity conservation and eco system restoration, clean energy and zero emission initiatives are some of the other sustainability priorities of the company. Together, these initiatives line up to contribute towards UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the goals under the National Development Agenda.

AFC’ s sustainability mandate is driven to protect the environment whilst empowering people across the country. All the sustainability efforts are driven by the visionary leadership of AFC’s Deputy Chairman and Managing Director – Mr. Romani de Silva and the Board of Directors and a highly motivated team of environmentally and socially conscious employees. “We are indeed happy to take part in this supplement to commemorate World Ozone Day 2021. Sri Lanka is a signatory to the Montreal protocol pledging to protect the Ozone layer and it is imperative that both private and public stakeholders incorporate this mandate in their day to day life instead of viewing it as an abstract problem for some other stakeholder to solve. We adopted the triple bottom line business philosophy in 2012 institutionalizing the values of our forefathers in serving society and increasing the focus on environment protection initiatives with a deep understanding of our share and responsibility towards society and the environment. Sustainability initiatives such as Tree Planting campaigns are very simply one of the most effective methods of protecting the Ozone layer of the planet and it is essential that all stakeholders come together to create a progressive dialogue and an action plan to protect the Ozone Layer and our Planet”, says the Deputy Chairman and the Managing Director of AFC, Mr. Romani de Silva.

About Alliance Finance PLC

Alliance Finance Co. PLC is the oldest finance company in Sri Lanka with a legacy of over 60 years, serving its 4th generation of loyal customers whilst supporting financial inclusion and sustainability. It is the first company in South Asia to become a Certified Financial Institution in Holistic Sustainability, under the pioneering Sustainability Standards and Certification Initiative (SSCI) of the European Organization for Sustainable Development - an EU initiative. SSCI is the worlds first measurable and certifiable holistic sustainability standard developed in Germany by the International Council of Sustainability Standards for Value-Driven Financial Institutions. Environmental and Sustainability initiatives are at the centre of AFC’s Sustainability agenda, which has set the future focus of the Company to realise our purpose of “Making the world a better place through Sustainable Finance”.

AFC Thuru Mithuru launch in 2018 with the participation of Mr.Romani de Silva (Deputy Chairman and the Managing Director of AFC), Mr.Mahinda Gunasekera (Executive Director Sustainability) ,Mr.Kusal Jayawardana (Executive Director Finance and Operations) and School Children and other AFC Officials.