Sustainability
What does it mean to be a “green” company operating in the financial services industry?
It means leadership in providing financing to companies engaged in renewable energy development. It means operating green buildings, providing for teleconferencing instead of traveling, conserving energy and doing what we can to reduce solid waste.
Beyond that, sustainability is part of who we are as a company. A company who cares about the world’s future – and the future of our business.
In our buildings
With almost 35 million square feet of real estate in North America, we’re taking significant steps to reduce our carbon footprint. How? By consuming less, diverting more waste and increasing our LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications through sustainable building and development practices for our new projects.
We reduce solid waste by recycling in a big way – everything from printer cartridges, paper, cardboard and glass to metal batteries, lamps, office furniture and electronic waste. In our Canadian offices alone, we recycled almost 317 tonnes of paper, 38 tonnes of cardboard and 37 tonnes of glass and plastic.
Last year, we recycled 3 metric tonnes of materials from our construction and clean-up projects. We also recycled 41,277 kg of metal condenser piping and 11,340 kg of dampers. Our employees joined our sustainability efforts, collecting 8,998 kg of electronic waste for recycling.
In our business
We’re an international company with offices in a number of countries. So while business travel between our centres is necessary at times, we’re also finding ways to reduce it. Teleconferencing, videoconferencing and increasingly, web conferencing, are providing us with solutions that bring people together without leaving a large environmental mark.
We’re also committed to using FSC-certified paper for our Annual Report and other corporate publications, which are produced as carbon neutral reports.
Investing in clean and renewable energy
We’ve been investing in clean and renewable energy for more than two decades. Last year, our total new commitments for renewable energy projects totaled more than $175 million. And we invested more than $85 million in natural gas co-generation projects – which use waste heat from neighbouring industry to produce electricity.
For more information on our renewable energy projects, see our Public Accountability Statement.
In their own words
"Sun Life has been integral in bringing the lifesaving ACT High School CPR Program to students in 260 schools across Quebec. As a result of their continued support, more than 70,000 youth have been empowered to react in emergencies and many lives have been saved."
Sandra Clarke, Executive Director
ACT Foundation of Canada
