The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has included CaixaBank on its “Leadership” category with an A- Score listing leading companies fighting climate change, a recognition that firmly establishes the company as a pioneering business worldwide due to its strategies and policies tackling climate change.
CDP is a non-profit international organisation based in the United Kingdom, which encourages private companies and public administrations to take action towards a sustainable economy, by reducing their CO2 emissions and measure the environmental impact of their actions.
In 2020, CDP analysed 9,600 companies, which represent 50% of the world market's value, classifying them from A (the most committed) to D (the least committed) in accordance with how they manage climate change. Inclusion in the “Leadership” category, as is the case of CaixaBank, is a recognition of the most advanced and leading companies in terms of their environmental management's performance and transparency.
The organisation compiles the actions and strategies of thousands of companies around the world and provides this information to more than 500 institutional investors, who manage $106 trillion in assets. In recent years, the classifications established by the CDP have become a benchmark for investors and stakeholders to assess business actions developed to mitigate climate change and to determine their degree of readiness in reacting to changes in legislation on emission reduction and market demands.
Leadership through partnerships and initiatives for the sustainability of the planet
For the seventh consecutive year, CaixaBank, chaired by Jordi Gual and led by Gonzalo Gortázar as CEO, has remained in the “Leadership” category of the CDP index. This is because CaixaBank is one of the leading banks in activity aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. The bank advocates that sustainability must be integrated into the business model of organisations. For this reason, the environmental strategy constitutes one the five pillars of its Socially Responsible Banking Plan. CaixaBank is committed to ensuring sustainability beyond its legal obligations and has integrated environmental management into its business activity.
As a result, CaixaBank adheres to the Equator Principles, and it also takes into account the environmental impact in its risk management framework. Similarly, the financial institution is committed to the fulfilment of the Paris Agreement. Specifically, CaixaBank works to minimise the environmental impact of its activity and, to achieve this goal, it has a 2019-2021 Environmental Management Plan in place, which envisions, among other actions, measures to make us more energy efficient and to reduce consumption, while also extending this commitment along the supply chain.
In 2019, the company announced its Climate Change Declaration, a proposal with five lines of action that includes commitments related to decarbonisation: fund solutions to climate change; manage the risks derived from climate change; minimise and offset the carbon footprint; collaborate with other organisations for joint progress; and report our progress transparently.
To finance projects with a climate impact, CaixaBank has various specific lines of funding for sustainable projects. In 2019, the bank financed renewable energy projects that amounted to €2.4 billion. This year, CaixaBank has concluded 56 sustainable financing operations, between loans and bonds, valued at €12.1 billion. The figure marks a record for the bank in this activity area, with a year-on-year rise of 51% in transactional loans and products and 32% in bond issues.
In 2020, CaixaBank was involved in the green bond market for a total of €766 million euros, which was put towards financing projects with a positive environmental impact.
With regard to ESG funding, 24 transactions linked to sustainability goals have been completed for an amount of €2.2 billion. The goals aimed at reducing carbon footprint stand out as the practices most employed by companies funded through this structure.
In addition, CaixaBank has mobilised €7.4 billion in the issuance of 12 sustainable bonds, where the green and social bonds issued by the company in 2020 stand out.
As regards the transactional field, CaixaBank is leading innovation in Spain in this product sector. In 2020, it mobilised €1.6 billion euros, notably featuring the first two sustainable factoring operations in Spain.
Furthermore, the company carefully manages environmental risks, to prevent, minimise, mitigate and remedy potential risks to the environment or the community as best as possible. In this regard, in February 2019, the CaixaBank Board of Directors approved an Environmental Risk Management Policy, establishing exclusions for sectors with potential negative environmental impacts.
CaixaBank has an active emissions control policy, which has successfully reduced emissions by 80% since 2009. It contracts electric energy that comes entirely from renewable sources, and offsets 100% of its calculated emissions, including indirect emissions.
The company has also signed up to the United Nations Collective Commitment to Climate Action, a declaration created within the framework of the Responsible Banking Principles so that the financial sector mobilises its products, services and relationships to facilitate the economic transition towards a sustainable model. The commitment aims to align the portfolios of financial institutions all over the world in order to finance a low-carbon economy, with the hope of limiting the rise in global temperatures to under two degrees Celsius.
The bank was the first Spanish organisation included on the RE100 list, an initiative which seeks to increase the supply and demand of clean energy. It is also part of the Spanish Group for Green Growth, which advocates economic growth linked to a low-carbon economy.
A year committed to Climate Action (CCCA)
The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) has published today a summary of the first steps given by the signatory entities of the Collective Commitment to Climate Action (CCCA), following the first anniversary of the signatories committing to align their portfolios and business practices to the goals of the Paris Agreement. The report provides a general description of the specific measures implemented in the first 12 months by the signatory banks of the CCCA in order to meet their commitment towards supporting the transition to a net zero economy by 2050.
The report points out that, in general, banks are increasingly incorporating into their strategies science-based climate change scenarios and that many have announced exclusion policies to help reduce global warming "below 2 degrees", in line with the times prescribed by the scientific community.
CaixaBank, in its firm commitment towards fighting climate change, is one of the signatories of the Collective Commitment to Climate Action (CCCA), which is the most ambitious banking initiative supporting the transition to a net zero economy by 2050. The group consists of 38 banks from all over the world, representing more than 15 trillion dollars in assets.
