The president of BBVA, Carlos Torres Vila, announced this Wednesday that the entity will increase its objective of mobilizing sustainable financing by 50%. “Sustainability is a business opportunity”, because the amount of investment required is immense (275 billion dollars a year until 2050), he explained at the annual meeting of the Institute for International Finance (IIF), held in Washington. In this sense, he has pointed out that the bank is channeling sustainable financing “at a really fast pace”, which led last June to the bank exceeding the objective that was initially set for 2025.
For this reason, “today I want to announce that we have once again increased our objective to 300,000 million euros in the 2018-2025 period,” he declared.
On February 28, 2018, BBVA announced its first sustainable financing target: €100 billion. On July 8, 2021, the entity doubled said objective to 200,000 million. As of June 30, 2022, it had already reached 112,000 million, a rate that has led to raising the goal again to 300,000 million, tripling the initial commitment.
This figure places BBVA as one of the European banks with the greatest ambition in its objective of mobilizing sustainable financing. But above all, it is a tangible example of the bank’s commitment to sustainability, one of its strategic priorities.
This decision is also part of a critical context in energy and climate matters. During his participation in a talk with Tim Adams, president and CEO of the IIF, Carlos Torres Vila stressed that the current moment demands that we all redouble our efforts in favor of clean energy and against climate change and inequality.
In his speech, the Chairman of BBVA also reviewed the main global economic challenges at a time of unprecedented uncertainty. Likewise, he has referred to the three trends that, in his opinion, are redefining the world: digitization, the emergence of new transformative technologies and decarbonization. “The world is changing fast and we must embrace those changes,” he said.
The promotion of sustainable financing by BBVA
Between 2018 and June 2022, BBVA reached 112,000 million euros in mobilization of sustainable financing. This financing of sustainable operations by BBVA in the first half of 2022 grew by 50% compared to the same period of the previous year. Quarter after quarter, BBVA has exceeded its forecasts in the mobilization of this type of financing.
From 2018 to June 2022, 77% of sustainable finance mobilization has been related to climate action, and 23% to inclusive growth. By segments, it comes mainly (65%) from investment and corporate banking operations for large clients (Corporate and Investment Banking); followed by companies, with 18%; and retail financing, with 17%.
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Commitment to decarbonise financing for its customers
BBVA has just announced new decarbonisation goals for its portfolio, specifically in the oil and gas sector. The entity has set itself the goal of reducing the emissions of customers in this sector by 30% before 2030. In this sense, BBVA has committed in its Environmental and Social Framework not to finance new exploration, drilling and extraction projects in these sectors. In parallel, it will continue to promote renewable and sustainable energy projects for these companies in order to help in their energy transition.
In November 2021, BBVA set interim targets to decarbonize its portfolio in four CO2-intensive industries. Specifically, between 2020 and 2030 it has set the goal of reducing the carbon intensity of its credit portfolio by 52% in electricity generation; 46% in automobile manufacturing; 23% in the production of steel; and 17% in cement production.
And previously, in March 2021, BBVA undertook to stop financing coal customers in developed economies in 2030 and in emerging economies in 2040. All of these sectors are the most intensive in emissions, and together they account for 80% of CO2 emissions in the world.
With all this, BBVA intends to fulfill its commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050, not only in its own emissions (where it already is) but also in those of customers.
BBVA is also part of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). The banks of this international alliance have committed to making all their credit and investment portfolios neutral in net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as the deadline, in line with science and the most ambitious objectives of the Paris Agreement.
According to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, BBVA is the most sustainable bank in the world.
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