Our approach to sustainable value creation

Provide health-care options, encourage healthy lifestyles and provide decent working conditions.

Health-care options

• Investment of Rs. 17.5 Mn. for 198 team members on health care facilities through “CDB Suwa Sampatha”.
• Maintaining a zero occupational disease rate, zero work-related fatalities and promoting safe and healthy surroundings.
• Introduced paternity leave.
• Extending leave in the event of an illness or complication or risk of complications, providing facilities and flexible working hours and developing appropriate family-friendly facilities for team members, which extend beyond compliance.

Decent working conditions

• A comprehensive range of health and safety protocols were implemented within all CDB premises investing Rs. 15 Mn. to ensure safety and decent working conditions.

Healthy lifestyles

• “Active Ninja” – In collaboration with the Health and Wellness Unit of the University of Colombo, the employee health and well-being educational programme was launched to provide free medical services, resources and information to raise awareness about health issues and available services.
• Child health and well-being “Act early for Autism” programme.

To promote early detection and timely intervention, the Autism Awareness project was launched in collaboration with Sri Lanka Association for Child Development (SLACD) in 2016. We have continued to make a positive impact through many initiatives under this project since its inception.

• Contributed towards the construction of a quarantine centre at the Maduru-oya Army Training centre supporting the national effort to combat COVID-19.

Providing all our team members learning opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills needed for sustainable development and pursue sustainable lifestyles. This process is encouraged from the beginning of their journey at CDB and this is further supported by providing an e-learning platform and library facilities.

Reimbursing the examination and course fees to encourage team members to obtain extra qualifications or continue their education. Investment during the year was Rs. 2.4 Mn.

Average hours of training per employee for FY 2020/21 was 20.6 hours.

We provide employment opportunities to youth in rural areas, support their education and provide training opportunities to increase their employability. During the year, 193 youth were recruited from outside the Western Province.

Scholarships were provided for high achievers of Grade Five Scholarship Examination and the GCE Ordinary Level Examinations, through the “Sisu Diri” scholarship Programme. 609 scholarships have been offered since the inception of
this programme.

Under the “CDB Smart Classroom” programme, CDB presented 12 state-of-the-art smart classrooms to disadvantaged schools in rural areas, providing access to digital education.

Respecting the right to safe drinking water and sanitation through availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of water.

Improving water performance and promoting reuse of fresh water through rainwater harvesting system.

Sharing smart solutions with peers and promoting awareness in conserving water among team members.

As at 31 March 2021, our energy efficient vehicle-lending portfolio stood at 25%. During the year a project was initiated to convert our branch network to Green branches and renewable energy backed locations.

Partnered with roof solar energy suppliers to encourage customers to change to solar electricity, introducing a payment plan under green financing. This was initiated as a pilot project during the year and owing to its success we will further expand the initiative in the ensuing year.

Mid-term plan to engage responsibly with the public sector to support the development of well-designed, stable policy frameworks and financing mechanisms to tackle market barriers including providing finance assistance to generate affordable, energy-efficient vehicle technologies to Sri Lanka.

Monitoring and reporting the amount of energy produced, purchased and consumed, according to source as per the annual carbon footprint analysis of our Company. Our energy consumption was at 2.2 Mn. KWh in FY 2020/21.

Ongoing efforts to reduce energy consumption in our own operations, collaborating with suppliers to reduce energy consumption, setting efficiency standards and conducting regular energy audits. CDB e-newsletter is circulated monthly creating awareness among our team members on using renewable energy in their households and switching to clean mobility solutions.

Incorporating sustainable development into our corporate vision, policies and strategies and developing sustainability targets and indicators across our operations:

• Voluntary adoption of UN SDGs across the Company.
• Business model, which combines urban funding and rural lending, with sustainable practices.
• Use of tech disruption to find sustainable solutions for maximum resource efficiency and low carbon growth.
• Embedding a sustainability agenda to the core business strategy and the company business model.

Implementing our mid-term goal of setting up the Citizens Sustainable Financing Unit to process sustainable financing requirements of our customers:

• Using renewable materials and energy-efficient technologies to reduce the negative environmental impact.
• Investing in improving environmental performance.
• Raising consumer awareness and promoting consumer education to improve their willingness to engage in sustainable consumption.

Understanding sustainable management in all operations through Environmental and Social Management policy and system (ESMS).

Tracking and reporting waste generated and disposed, energy and water consumption GHG, through the annual Carbon Footprint analysis.

Maintaining the carbon neutral status of the company by investing in UN Clean energy projects for the sixth consecutive year.

Conducting numerous environmentally sustainable activities across our outlets and communities by the CDB Green Ninja Ambassadors of “CDB Advance Green Ninja Club” with the aim of connecting people to nature.

ISO 14064-1:2018 Carbon verification and a certified carbon neutral business entity.

Understanding the social and economic value of ecosystems, the value of recreation and functions in supporting ecosystem processes, we collaborated with private sector institutions, Biodiversity Sri Lanka (BSL), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Sri Lanka Forest Department to restore and manage the degraded land adjacent to Kanneliya Forest Reserve, under the “Life project”.

“Green Ninja – CDB Quiz Master” programme to create awareness in biodiversity and ecosystems amongst our team members.

CDB annual “e-waste” and “Paper waste” recycling programmes to recycle waste generated and harmful chemicals used in our operations responsibly, and assess and prevent the actual or potential negative impact on soil, wildlife and ecosystems.

Creating awareness on bio diversity, climate emergency and other sustainability issues to build a grassroot level movement to achieve SDGs by sharing e-flyers, videos among all staff members.

Please refer page 71 for the sustainability business partners of CDB.

We believe in, strengthening our partnerships to contribute towards achieving focused sustainability development goals. Furthermore, we believe SDGs can only be met if we support and collaborate with others who have the same vision to achieve these SDGs.

Sustainability Steering Committee Responsibilities

The Sustainability Steering Committee reviews and monitors the performance of the Company, holds periodic meetings with stakeholders to understand their perspectives and identifies and investigates emerging issues. The Committee oversees risk management-related sustainability matters and monitors the status and the effectiveness of the business continuity plan through periodic reports.

Composition of the Sustainability Steering Committee

		Aspect	CDB response	Led by
	Investors	Sustainable shareholder returns	Generate profits and ensure Sustainable returns for their investment	Chief Executive Officer
	Customers	World class customer service and experience	Secure our customers including data protection, confidentiality, customer privacy, preventing unsolicited communication and intrusive surveillance Provide a positive and satisfying customer experience	DGM – Innovation and Business Intelligence
	Employees	Health, safety and employee well-being	Ensure the safety and well-being of our employees Develop a quality human capital assets base	GM – HR and Administration
	Community	Societal well-being and social inclusiveness	Enhance the living standards of the society	DGM – Marketing
	Business partners	Strategic sustainable business partnerships	Build resilient, connected, and sustainable partnerships	Director – Sales
	Regulators	Corporate governance and ethical business practices	Develop and communicate a framework that promotes good corporate governance and ethical behaviour at all levels Work with suppliers, service providers to address sustainability issues in the supply chain	Chief Financial Officer
	Environment	Environmental stewardship	Develop a green recovery plan by reducing GHG emission of CDB operations and by embedding sustainability mind-set to leverage towards a green economy	Chief Financial Officer