The Company is proactive in addressing environmental issues and acts in the presence of an apparent threat to the environment, though full scientific evidence on this aspect is not yet available.
CHI's continued certification reflects its strict adherence to its Environmental Management System (ISO 14001: 2004), embodied in the Company's environmental, health and safety policy statement.
Organization
With these objectives in focus, the Company formed its Pollution Control Officers' (PCO) Team, which is composed of the property administrators and technical supervisors and assistants of the Property Management Division (PMD). The QEHS Management Representative (MR) ensures that the PCO Team is always guided by and aligned with the overall environmental goals of the Company. These personnel are also accredited Pollution Control Officers of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety Impact and Risk Assessment and Objective Setting
To identify areas of focus, the PCO Team, together with the Health and Safety Committee and the representatives of all departments, conducted an Environment and Occupational Health and Safety (EHS) Impact and Risk Assessment for all areas and processes. In conformity with the requirements of ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 standards, the assessments are done in a structured manner at least once a year; when there are changes in the operations; or when incidents need to be analyzed.
The EHS Risk Assessment process, as embodied in procedure PM-EHS-01-001, is as follows:
The unit/department identifies its activities, inputs, equipment, outputs, emission, and discharges.
Each activity is assessed according to its:
Cause and effect to the external environment - Environmental aspect (cause), the condition and control of the activity, the condition of the impact to happen, and the impact (effect)
Cause and effect to the internal environment (workplace) – OHS hazards (cause), the condition and control of the activity, the condition of the OHS risk to happen, and the OHS risk (effect).
The resulting EHS Impact/Risk is subjected to an EHS Impact/Risk Assessment, using the EHS Impact/Risk Assessment Matrix. If the EHS Impact/Risk rating is greater than the preset Risk Priority Number (RPN) threshold (RPN>27), the Impact/Risk is considered significant to the Company's operations and should be mitigated.
As of December 2008, there was no Impact/Risk that is rated above 27, so all were considered as "Not Significant". Yet, even though the EHS Impact/Risk is considered as "Not Significant", the Company still implements objectives and targets to ensure that the impacts and risks are managed.
To ensure that these objectives and targets are also continually monitored, measured and analyzed, these are reported during the monthly performance review meetings. These, in turn, are reported to the management committee (Mancom) at least twice a year.
The Company, through the PCO Team and Health and Safety Committee, also monitors its compliance to all applicable legal, regulatory and statutory requirements. This is embodied in the procedure PM-EHS-01-002.
A list of the requirements and the corresponding status of compliance is updated quarterly by the PCO team leader, and posted at CHI's intranet system for reference.
Our Commitments and Framework
We are committed to limiting the environmental impacts of ouroperations through the efficient use of natural resources, reducing input materials and waste and contributing to the conservation of biodiversity. We continue to plan, design, operate, and close operations in a manner that enhances sustainable development. We proactively identify environmental risks and opportunities as an integral part of our risk management processes and business planning.
We seek to continually improve our environmental performance by measuring and reviewing the effectiveness of our QEHS MS in conformity with the requirements of ISO 9001: 2000, ISO 14001:2004, and OHSAS 18001:1999.
With the involvement of the employees and outsourced personnel, the Company commits to continually develop a sustainable real estate development strategy to pro-actively respond to evironmental challenges and opportunities that affect the business and the society such as energy efficiency and emissions, water and wastewater management, solid waste management, resource conservation, sustainable technologies and the environmental impacts of the company's products and services.
We apply the QEHS MS standards to all areas, departments and operations. The procedures are documented in our QEHS Procedures Manual.
A simplified process flowchart is illustrated on the right
As part of our continuing environmental management programs, we continue to:
explore opportunities to lower our energy and water consumption through engineering (technical) and administrative (non-technical) interventions;
review our operational processes to conserve materials
and reduce waste;
study and apply other established environmental standards to ensure that our products and services are delivered with minimal or no negative environmental impacts; and
educate and mobilize the employees and outsourced personnel to promote good environmental practices
We have also taken steps to integrate the environmental management programs with our social programs and initiatives, such as mobilization of different sectors for the tree planting program, and the ongoing Kwarta sa Basura, involving our fenceline barangays.
Water Consumption
Water consumption patterns for different properties yielded mixed results. In 2008, three properties (Park Tower Two, ALAI-FGU Center and Cebu Business Park) exceeded water consumption targets (which was to maintain 2007 levels), posting an aggregate reduction of 13 percent as against 2007 levels. On the other hand, Park Tower One and Cebu Holdings Center posted an increase of 5 percent as against 2007. Specific to Ayala Center Cebu, the huge increase in consumption was attributed to the construction of The Terraces. The water used during construction activities until turnover was passed on to the mall operations, specifically the Property Management Division, which led to the increase.
Wastewater Quality
Wastewater generated by CHI properties is conveyed to the central sewage treatment plant (STP) where water is aerobically degraded to conform with wastewater quality requirements.
The graph shows the five-day Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5) of the treated wastewater that is discharged to Cebu City's drainage network.
As part of our environmental performance measures, we ensure that the treated wastewater quality should be lower than what is prescribed by the DENR-EMB for Class C water quality (50 milligrams per liter).
A third party laboratory accredited by the DENR-EMB is commissioned to get and analyze our water quality samples monthly. The results are reported on a quarterly basis to the DENR-EMB through our Self-Monitoring Report.
Additionally, we treat the water by chlorination to kill the microorganisms prior to discharge. A part of the treated wastewater is also recycled for the Park's irrigation purposes.
Solid Waste Management
As seen in the graph (Solid Waste Generation), a decrease in the generated residual waste was observed for Ayala Center Cebu by 50 percent and the Cebu Business Park by around 30 percent.
Most encouraging also is the increase in the recyclables reintroduced to the resource stream. In 2008, ACC's recyclables tripled while that of CBP doubled. These are results of the continuing environmental education and implementation.
Direct Energy
The graph shows the three-year diesel consumption for Cebu Holdings Inc. (CHI) and its managed properties. There is an increase in consumption for 2008 for the mall as we have increased its leased area – Paseo Solana and The Terraces – with which we have provided two additional generators for backup power during power interruptions.
Additionally, the Transmission Company (Transco) – Visayas reported an unusual increase in manual load shedding (27 instances) of their system due to problems in power supply especially during peak periods, during the last quarter of 2008. During these periods of manual load shedding, we ran the generators to supply power to our merchants.
Indirect Energy / Purchased Electricity
In 2008, the continuing economic growth of Cebu resulted in the Company's increased activities for its business units, which also resulted in more energy-intensive operations. The registered figure in 2008 for all common area consumption reached 9,030,836 kilowatt hours, 81 percent of which is accounted for by retail operations.
Looking at individual building performance, almost all of our properties (except Park Tower One) demonstrated improvement as indicated in their efficiency targets (actual vs. budget).
For Park Tower One, the consumption target was off by only 1.02 percent due to the unforeseen additional consumption brought about by the fence extension project of the Condominium Corporation.
Other Sources of Energy (e.g. Diesel)
The Company and its managed properties consumed 32,763 liters of diesel in 2008, to run the standby generating sets during power interruptions and to test-run the generating sets weekly for 10 minutes to ensure that these are in excellent condition and can take on the loads during interruptions. Of the total volume, 88.16 percent of this is attributed to Ayala Center Cebu's consumption.
Energy Saved
In 2008, CHI was on-track to meet its energy improvement goal, using technical and administrative approaches to realize savings.
Electric energy consumption was reduced across eight CHI properties by about 816,805 kilowatt hours, 8.3 percent lower than targeted consumption. This eliminated more than 155 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and brought in a total of P4.9 million (at P6.00 per kwh) in savings.
Although the energy consumption for the properties posted a reduction against committed targets, there is a very slight increase of 0.2 percent in all properties compared to 2007 levels. Some properties, notably Park Tower Two and Cebu Business Park, managed to reduce consumption by 0.8 percent and 14 percent, respectively, as compared to 2007 figures.
This slight increase can be attributed to Cebu's vibrant economic activity, which translated to more foot traffic in the properties.
Carbon emissions Direct Energy.
In 2008, the total CO2 emission from direct energy (generators) was at 88.73 metric tons. This is about five percent of the total CO2 emission from the Company's direct and indirect energy sources.
Of the total CO2 emission from direct energy source, Ayala Center Cebu accounts for 88.16 percent, at 78.23 metric tons. This is understandable since Ayala Center Cebu's backup generators (with a total generating capacity of 11.2 megawatts) are sized to accommodate all the load requirements of the mall.
Indirect Energy.
Looking at the Company's operations, the single largest source of carbon dioxide emission is from the indirect energy: purchased electricity from the Visayan Electric Company (VECO), amounting to 1,721 tons in 2008.
Fortunately, the Visayas grid's power generation mix is heavily dependent on renewable geothermal energy, the details are shown in the pie chart below (from the Department of Energy's Power Development Program for 2006-2014).
As compared with other island grids (Luzon and Mindanao), the carbon dioxide emission (in grams of CO2 per kilowatt hours) for the Visayas grid is lower by 13.7 percent, if compared to Mindanao, and lower by 56.4 percent, if compared to Luzon.
Business-related Travel.
For this report, CHI initially considered CO2 emission from business travel by air only. Quantification is based on the electronic filing of travel orders per employee.
With CHI's operations being based in Cebu, business travel of employees is limited to Manila and back. This simplifies the process of data collection and validation.
For 2008, 91 employees logged in a total of 1,130 medium-flight legs (a leg is one cycle of takeoff, cruise and landing), equal to 10,110 kilometers of flight. This activity contributed 1.21 tons of CO2 emission in 2008.
To lessen the environmental impact of business travel, while increasing productivity and efficiency, the Company installed two video conferencing facilities, in Makati and Cebu. It allows people to conduct long distance meetings and presentations via video or telephone conferencing. The system was fully implemented starting January 2008.
A system to monitor video-conference usage to quantify the travel offset is scheduled to be implemented within 2009.
Initiatives to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Palit-Ilaw initiative, which is the replacement of incandescent and fluorescent lights with compact fluorescent lights (CFL), reduces energy consumption while providing more adequate lighting to the area.
2. The use of variable speed drives (VSD) at The Terraces delivers water to the merchants while providing only the right amount of electrical energy needed by the motors so no energy is wasted and the carbon dioxide emission is properly managed.
These initiatives earned for the Company the following milestones:
1. In February 2008, a research and development paper presenting the constructed wetland system of Asiatown I.T. Park, owned by CHI's subsidiary CPVDC, won for Elson Homez, head of the technical support group of CHI, third prize in the Regional Competition, Visayas-Mindanao Cluster, for Outstanding Research and Development in Industry and Energy for Year 2008. Mr. Homez, a member of CHI's management team, with three of his professional colleagues, conceptualized and operationalized the wetland system, which is now on its third year.
2. In December 2008, CHI was awarded by the Department of Energy-Philippine Efficient Lighting Market Transformation Project (DOE-PELMATP) for its Palit-Ilaw initiative which was implemented in 2007.
With the involvement of the employees and outsourced personnel, the Company commits to continually develop a sustainable real estate development strategy to pro-actively respond to evironmental challenges and opportunities that affect the business and the society such as energy efficiency and emissions, water and wastewater management, solid waste management, resource conservation, sustainable technologies and the environmental impacts of the company's products and services.
Direct Energy.
In 2008, the total CO2 emission from direct energy (generators) was at 88.73 metric tons. This is about five percent of the total CO2 emission from the Company's direct and indirect energy sources. 
