SM Cares, the corporate social responsibility arm of SM Supermalls, was awarded by the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) the 2016 Tanging Bayani ng Kalikasan award, the highest environmental management honor given by organization.
 
Oscar Pena, PMAP Chairman Emeritus said the 2016 PMAP Tanging Bayani ng Kalikasan Award (NGO category) is in recognition of SM Cares’ environmental management programs in the area of clean air and climate change.
 
Steven T. Tan, Senior Vice President for Operations of SM Supermalls and Joaquin L. San Agustin, Senior Vice President for Marketing personally received the award during the awarding ceremonies at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City.
 
PMAP, founded in 1956 as organization of human resources management oriented companies and professionals, said the many environmental initiatives of SM Cares have made a deep impact not only in the communities  where SM malls operate but the country and society as a whole.
 
Thanking PMAP for the recognition, Steven Tan, Senior Vice President for Operations of SM Supermalls said SM “employs a holistic approach in its programs for the Environment and Sustainability (which) includes initiatives on solid waste management, energy and air efficiency, water conservation, climate change mitigation and disaster risk reduction.”
 
“This award serves as an inspiration for us to do more programs to protect the environment for future generations. We will continue to promote sustainability and environmental awareness in our malls,” Tan stated.
 
Some of SM’s Environmental and Sustainability Efforts include: the (1) Regular Trash to Cash recycling market; (2) The SM Supermalls eco-bag; (3) Park light facilities; (4) Green Film Festival for public high school students; (5) Green Retail Agenda that cascades best environmental practices to all SM tenants and employees; (6) Automated Weather Stations across all SM Supermalls that provide accurate weather forecast for the community; (7) Flood control water catchment basins in some SM Malls; (8) tree planting activities in various local communities in support of the SM Supermarket’s “Grow A Million Trees” project; (9) Solar rooftops located at SM City North Edsa and the SM Mall of Asia; (10) Coastal Clean Up; (11) the annual Top Leaders Forum; and (12) various global celebrations like the Earth Day and Earth Hour events.
 
Several malls have also embarked on other energy saving systems such as the use of ice-based cooling systems, switched to the use of LED lighting and installed Big ASS fans.
 
Tan said SM Cares was formed to organize the sustainability efforts into a comprehensive program that tackles a wide range of initiatives – from giving a voice to the underrepresented, marginalized sectors of our society, to preserving the environment, promoting disaster resiliency and creating innovative but sustainable avenues of growth.
 
“We would not have done this without the help of our partners. We are sharing this recognition with our partners, stakeholders and to the men and women who join us in all our CSR advocacies,” Tan stated.
 
Aside from environmental protection and sustainability, SM Cares has other advocacies for Persons with Disabilities, Senior Citizens, Women & Breastfeeding, Children & Youth and OFW (or SM Global Pinoy).