THE ENVIRONMENT

In 2013 we consumed 12,856 MWh of billed energy, equivalent to 0.66 MWh per employee. This figure applies to all our operations in Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru.

Our main offices, shared by Compartamos Banco, Yastás, and Aterna, have been designed and built with innovative tools and systems to reduce the consumption of electricity, water, and other material, in addition to permitting their control and monitoring.

Thanks to the use of LED lighting, the building has reduced our consumption of electricity for lighting by 15.7%. Also, constant maintenance is performed on the ventilation equipment of Compartamos Banco branches in order to optimize their efficiency.

Our operations consumed 1,079,854 m³ of water in 2013, equivalent to 122 m³ per employees at Gentera, Compartamos Banco (all over Mexico), Yastás, and Aterna. This calculation has been made on the basis of the consumption established in the Mexico City construction regulation, with an average of hours per day and cubic meters per branch.

The new premises have a water treatment plant which has not yet begun to operate but which will have capacity to treat 100% of water consumed so that it can be reused. The installation of water-saving faucets and other equipment is expected to reduce water consumption by 34.0%.

We have containers to correctly separate waste in our main offices and in those of our companies in Mexico, as well as in some Compartamos Banco branches. This is combined with constant training and internal awareness campaigns in order to foster a culture of environmental care in the workplace, through the simple practice of separating waste materials.

Recyclable waste is collected and properly disposed of with the support of the Fundación San Ignacio de Loyola. This activity has helped the organization raise funds for its social projects. In 2013, a total of 13,939 kg of waste material was collected, generating 35,056 pesos for the foundation.

Given the nature of our economic activity, we do not generate high-risk waste materials, but we do call on expert help to properly dispose of materials that could be hazardous. In 2013, for example, 10 kg of fluorescent lighting was withdrawn by a company duly certified to perform the task.

It is our policy not to acquire real estate, so 100% of our branches and our main offices in Mexico are rented.

The 507 Compartamos Banco branches are in legally inhabited rural and urban zones. Only four of them are located in natural resource or flora and fauna protection areas. Even there, however, the Bank’s activities do not significantly affect the habitats and biodiversity of the places in question.

Our land use does not have any negative impact on biodiversity in any of the places where we operate.

We support conservation by adopting woodlands through Reforestamos México, a civil society organization whose mission is to protect the woodlands and forests Mexico needs for its development. Through 2013 we have adopted ten hectares for three consecutive years in Estado de México, near the volcano known as the Nevado de Toluca.

Through the same organization we have participated in reforestation efforts in Mexico, in addition to ordinary maintenance of the zones in question. With the help of 364 of our employees, their family members, suppliers, and other collaborators, four hectares were reforested with 4,000 native trees in the locality of San José Contadero. Another 151 employees participated in the maintenance of the Nevado de Toluca reforested zones, bringing the total number of volunteers in this activity to 515.

For two years in a row, we have received assistance from expert consultants on measuring the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions) generated directly or indirectly by our business activities. In addition to determining our carbon footprint, this monitoring has allowed us to lay the foundations for planning and managing efficiency measures in energy consumption and transport, the main factors that contribute to GHG emissions.

One result of our interest in reducing CO₂ emissions is the Aventones car pool program, which encourages employees to share their automobiles to get to and from work. The program, which uses a system whereby the rides are programmed and controlled, showed the results indicated in the adjacent table as of the end of 2013.

Also, the first Compartamos Micro-Entrepreneur Fair was held in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, in 2013, as well as an event at which our Social Responsibility and Sustainability results were presented. Both were zero-emission events. For each of them, 27 carbon bonds (54 in total) were purchased from the Carboin project of Integradora de Comunidades Indígenas y Campesinas del Estado de Oaxaca (ICICO), duly verified by the Asociación de Normalización y Certificación, A.C. (ANCE), in compliance with the standards currently in effect in the area.

We are progressing in our process of monitoring consumption in order to identify savings possibilities that will impact positively on our process and make us more efficient in both economic and environmental terms. One example is a reduction in the use of plastic bags, from 16 to 2, to manage payments of Crédito Mujer loans at Compartamos Banco.

Also, all of the printers in our main offices print on both sides of the sheet and we only purchase tickets, in so far as it is possible, for flights that use biofuel. All of our used electronic equipment that cannot be donated is recycled or properly disposed of by expert and certified suppliers.