Enhanced MPIC Sustainability Framework

Sustainability is at the core of MPIC’s purpose, given the critical nature of our operations. As a company that provides essential services in an archipelagic country that is one of the most affected by climate change, we must constantly integrate the welfare of the general public into our business strategies to create long-term value. Ultimately, our goal is to contribute to national progress by maximizing our ability to help solve the country’s biggest challenges while keeping investment risks at a minimum. We have been reporting yearly on the impact of our sustainability activities since 2016 based on all applicable Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards. Our business targets are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure and SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities as our main anchors. This year, we included agriculture and food security as new areas for growth and shared value creation. This move is aligned with SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. We are also aligned with the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 for deep economic and social transformation through inclusive growth by reinvigorating job creation and accelerating poverty reduction. Our Sustainability Framework represents a continuous process of refinement. We regularly update our framework to emphasize the ethical dimension of our businesses while synchronizing our actions with Economic, Environmental, Social, and Governance (EESG) best practices. This is why we took a step further in enhancing our Sustainability Framework in 2021. After reviewing past actions, commitments, and future imperatives, we adjusted our framework in response to the emerging post-pandemic context. Our new focus areas consolidate the critical sustainability issues that each of our companies addresses based on their business models. The pool of sustainability issues was derived from multiple global sustainability issues frameworks. First, each of the consolidated issues was rated by our operating companies through the lenses of impact, risks, opportunities, and capability of the company to effect change on the issue.

Then, the identified priority issues were categorized according to sustainability focus areas that address these issues. Lastly, the priority issues and focus areas from the operating companies were rolled-up at MPIC’s level to craft MPIC’s material sustainability issues and focus areas. The framework helps our companies better integrate sustainability into their business models, driving them to be more responsible with limited capitals to deliver meaningful business outcomes. At the same time, it encourages them to set ambitious targets as their sustainability actions increasingly become indistinguishable from their everyday business actions. As we continue to contribute to the sustainable transformation of our society and economy amid volatility and uncertainty, our framework helps our companies adapt to the new normal of the post-pandemic economy. Our early understanding of various risks enables us to manage uncertainties while fulfilling our duties as a business. Through informed actions and strategies, we are also strengthening our resilience in a time of climate crisis. Our responsibility has only become greater given the unpredictability of daily life and doing business due to heightening crises on numerous fronts. Accordingly, we continue to conduct an annual review of our materiality process to ensure that our focus areas remain relevant for our business and stakeholders.