Bankia S A : What does Bankia to combat climate change and its effects?

If we continue with the current level of production and consumption, experts estimate that the average temperature of the planet will rise by up to 3 degrees Celsius this century, which will cause millions of people to be forced to emigrate due to lack of water or food, sea levels rising and record high emissions of greenhouse gases.

With the 2016 Paris Agreement, the signatory countries, including Spain, undertook to limit the global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius. This agreement is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and especially SDG 13 on Climate Action.

Low-carbon economy

Bankia, like the rest of the financial industry, plays a key role in the transition towards a low-carbon economy with important opportunities around financing and investment in projects and companies that drive the challenges linked to climate change.

Within the framework of this commitment, the bank has the Sustainable Business and Financing Division, which aims to mobilise resources under a framework of action committed to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, to promote financing for this transition towards a low-carbon economy. With this division, Bankia is ahead of the social and economic trends of the coming years, approaching new proposals for sustainable products and services for its customers.

In addition, the entity chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri is one of the 130 signatory banks of the Principles for Responsible Banking promoted by the United Nations and one of the 31 financial institutions worldwide that have signed the UN Collective Commitment to Climate Action, and the broadest alliance signed to date by the banking industry.

For Bankia, 'it is important to assume a public commitment that highlights the need for a responsible business model focused on promoting sustainable development and contributing to improving the environment and combating climate change', says the bank's CEO, José Sevilla.

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In addition, Bankia supports the recommendations on financing and climate change TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure) promoted by the UN Financial Stability Board (FSB) on the analysis of risks and opportunities related to climate change to promote a transition towards a low-carbon economy. The four areas on which the TCFD Working Group focuses are governance, strategy, risk and metrics management and public information.

Likewise, Bankia has also adopted the Equator Principles as a tool for the management, evaluation and monitoring of risks in responsible financing. Thus, these Principles are applied to the financing of projects, and to operations that already exist, through financial project advising services; financing and corporate loans linked to bridge loans and projects.

The bank has signed environmental commitments both nationally and internationally, including its commitment to the Spanish Green Growth Group, which is part of the Forética Climate Change Cluster and RE100, an initiative that brings together the most influential companies in the world. committed to the use of green energy.

Support for environmental projects

In its commitment to the SDG 13, Bankia launched a new line of Social Action in 2018 to support environmental projects, specifically to improve biodiversity and combat climate change.

These actions, carried out in collaboration with NGOs and local associations, are materialised through Environmental calls and direct actions and are supported by Bankia professionals through volunteering projects.

Thus, in 2019 two calls have been launched related to environmental projects, together with the Montemadrid Foundation and the Bancaja Foundation, which support projects to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity and fight against climate change.

The involvement of Bankia professionals in environmental volunteering activities is made visible through actions such as the recovery of 60 hectares of meadow in the vicinity of the Tablas de Daimiel National Park (Ciudad Real), together with WWF España; restoration and reforestation activities, such as those carried out at the Mijares River (Castellón) or Pantano de Bellús and in deteriorated areas of the Cuatro Calas de Águilas Protected Landscape (Murcia) or those developed on the Maresme beaches (Barcelona) where an impact project on seas and coastal clean-ups has been developed, in addition to educational workshops for young people based on real cases.

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