BPI offers financing, insurance option to support energy efficiency programs

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is reinforcing its commitment to help businesses, such as those in the cold chain industry, become more sustainable and energy efficient by funding, developing, and building its energy efficiency projects.

Through its Sustainable Development Finance (SDF) program, BPI offers targeted and comprehensive solutions that will provide opportunities for enterprises that use cold storage facilities or cooling energy to pursue their shift to energy-efficient systems.

This move supports the recently passed Energy Efficiency & Conservation Act or RA 11285, which mandates that establishments have energy management systems and undergo a mandatory energy audit every three years.

“The sustainable energy asset class, called energy efficiency, will certainly be a dynamic growth area for sustainable development finance, such as the one being scaled-up by BPI,” said Mr. Alexander Ablaza, president of Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance, during the recently held Cold Chain Association of the Philippines Webinar on “The ABC’s of Energy Efficiency Act: Awareness, Benefits, Compliance,” which was done in partnership with BPI.

Mark Emmanuel L. Canlas, Head of BPI SDF, said the bank has cumulative availed loans worth Php 201 billion as of June 2021, which accounts for 158 energy efficiency projects, 99 renewable energy projects, and 108 climate resilience projects, including green buildings.

This type of funding will benefit businesses, such as the cold chain sector, since “compliance or non-compliance with the Energy Efficiency policy could either lead to tax holidays or penalties of Php 10,000 to Php 1 million,” according to Mr. Ablaza.

Mr. Canlas said, “Aside from funding support, we also conduct free technical consultations to clients with existing projects to make sure that they are technically feasible and financially viable. This includes the evaluation of project proposals and the validation of energy savings and production projections.”

Business resilience

To make businesses more resilient, BPI also provides clients an option to get maximum protection for their valuable assets. BPI MS Insurance Insurance Corporation offers the Industrial All Risk Insurance (IAR) that will protect the insured against all risks of physical loss, destruction of, or property damage, among others. The insurance covers properties such as the cold storage facility, machinery & equipment, and stocks stored within the facility.

It also offers optional insurance coverage for business interruption, which protects an insured client against loss of income or profit caused by fire or other perils covered by the policy.

IAR will reimburse a policyholder provided that there is physical damage to the insured property, the damage is unforeseen and accidental in nature, and the proximate cause is not specifically excluded under the IAR.