Sico, a leading regional asset manager, broker, and investment bank (licensed as a wholesale bank by the CBB), has successfully offset its carbon emissions and is now carbon neutral. 

 

In its first greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions report, quantifying how much carbon it releases during the course of the daily activities and operations of Sico and its subsidiaries, the firm said as of 2021, the total GHG emissions of Sico’s business were 571.962 metric tonnes (Mt) CO2e.

 

Of this, Scope 1 was 272.841 Mt CO2e, Scope 2 160.230 Mt CO2e and Scope 3 138.891 Mt CO2e. The bank’s emissions per employee are 5.84 tonne/employee, well below Bahrain’s GHG intensity rate per capita and in line with the average per employee for the financial sector in the GCC.

 

Crucial first step

Commenting on the report, Najla Al Shirawi, CEO of Sico, said: “Publishing our first GHG emissions report is a crucial first step that we will use to measure and monitor Sico’s impact on the environment and reduce our carbon footprint. Sico is now carbon neutral after offsetting our emissions, and we plan on enhancing our focus on expanding on our environmentally conscious activities.”

 

“We are confident that this report will boost our accountability and awareness when it comes to our role in the global climate change conversation. We intend to step up our green initiatives, along with our broader CSR projects, and continue to embrace our responsibility of contributing to a more sustainable future,” she added.

 

Sico is one of the first financial institutions in Bahrain to publish a GHG report, taking a step towards becoming more conscious of its carbon footprint in order to determine the areas that are most pressing and require more immediate attention. 

 

Effective climate action

The report creates a foundation for effective climate action by tying prior efforts together, clearly identifying areas of Sico’s climate impact, and showing critical intervention points to substantially reduce GHG emissions in the coming years. The report additionally outlines actionable initiatives to minimise Sico’s negative impact on the environment focused on three key areas: conserving, recycling, and offsetting. 

 

The reporting period is from January 1 to December 31, 2021, and it consists of GHG emissions, including direct emissions from controlled equipment and assets (scope 1), emissions from purchased electricity (scope 2), and selected categories that constitute indirect emissions that occur in the value chain of the bank, including business travel, employee commuting, and indirect effect of emissions of Sico staff who worked from home during part of the pandemic period (scope 3), so that we could capture a comprehensive view of our carbon footprint during the full reporting period. 

 

The study and estimates were based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Inventories, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).-- TradeArabia News Service