ENVIRONMENT

• Promote continuous improvement in matters connected with environmental management and energy performance by adopting efficient sustainable practices that prevent or minimise the pollution the Institution's activity generates.
  
• Perform its activity by fostering prevention, proper management and control over polluting emissions, along with efficient use of natural and energy resources.
  
• Act rapidly and responsibly to put right any incidents which might pose an environmental risk or are related to energy use and consumption by quickly informing the authorities and affected parties, as appropriate.
  
• Ensure fulfilment of the legislation and other provisions in force on environmental and energy matters, as well as compliance with any national and international commitments or initiatives on sustainability and the environment that have been voluntarily endorsed.
  
• Encourage involvement and raise environmental and energy awareness among stakeholders, including the Unicaja workforce and management, in order to foster protection of and care for the environment and improve energy performance.
  
• Promote training for employees and management and provide them with the necessary knowledge to implement and monitor environmental and energy efficiency best practices in accordance with their level of responsibility.
  
• Drive the reuse and recycling of materials in order to make a contribution to the transition to a circular economy and the acquisition of energy-efficient products and services by encouraging the use of cleaner technologies and design activities that take energy performance improvement into consideration.
  
• Collaborate with customers, suppliers, public administrations and society at large on all matters connected with environmental protection, improving energy efficiency, and energy use and consumption, as well as with any initiatives aimed at preventing, mitigating and adapting to climate change.
  
• Incorporate environmental and energy efficiency criteria into decision-making on the awarding of service provision agreements.
  
• Promote compliance with the United Nations Global Compact's Principles and energy efficiency and circular economy best practices among suppliers.
  
• Establish programmes which lay down goals and targets set by the integrated management system, and ensure availability of the necessary resources that lead to continuous improvement in environmental and energy performance by conducting rigorous audits and self-assessments on compliance with this Policy and issuing monitoring reports.
  
• Make the Policy available to all interested parties and inform stakeholders transparently about the position, management, controls and results concerning the environment, climate change and energy performance through at least the corporate sustainability report.
  

Access the Environmental, Energy and Climate Change Policy

In accordance with the 2021-2023 Environmental Management Plan, Unicaja implemented the Energy Efficiency (ISO 50001) and the Greenhouse Gas Emission (ISO 14064, Part 1) Management Systems in an integrated way with the Environmental Management System (ISO 14001) in 2021. The institution has had an Environmental Management System implemented pursuant to the international ISO 14001 standard since 2009. The aim of having an integrated systematic approach in place is to achieve greater capacity for environmental management, continuous energy performance improvement (energy efficiency, energy use and consumption), and greenhouse gas emissions and environmental management monitoring in order to address their mitigation.

The Integrated Management System allows Unicaja to strengthen its Environmental, Energy and Climate Change Policy, set targets and establish processes to fulfil the policy's commitments, take the necessary actions to improve its performance and demonstrate the system's conformity with the standard's requirements.

All of the above evidence Unicaja's sensitivity to and respect for the environment, along with the long-term commitment the institution has made to reducing its environmental impact and contributing to sustainable development.

The Environmental Management and Energy Efficiency Systems' scope covers the provision of corporate services, which include: central services units and centralised business units; the provision of banking services, including loan, credit and guarantee transactions, asset portfolios, passbook and current account deposits, pension plans, insurance, securities, foreign transactions, payment methods and electronic banking; and the data processing centre, which provides support to the entire network.

As set out in the 2021 Environmental Management Plan, ten buildings are included:
• EUROCOM Building, Malaga
• Main Headquarters, Avda. Andalucía
• Plaza de la Marina, Malaga
• DPC, Ronda
• Humilladero Logistics Centre (Spanish initials, CLH)
• Antequera Headquarters
• Cadiz Headquarters
• Jaen Headquarters, Plaza por la Paz
• Madrid Headquarters, Caballero de Gracia
• Portillo Building, Leon

Within the scope set for the Integrated Management System, Unicaja has determined the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services that it can control and any that it can exert an influence on, along with their associated environmental impacts from a life cycle perspective; that is to say, from the acquisition or generation of raw materials and natural resources to final disposal, as set out in the procedure on environmental impacts.

Identifying energy sources and uses through an integrated approach will also allow for continuous efficiency, cost and greenhouse gas emission improvements.

Life cycle assessment takes into account all the raw materials, ancillary services and waste generated by a service. Life cycle assessment aims to set the indicator which assesses key environmental aspects, thereby allowing organisations to identify what they should focus their efforts on in order to improve their environmental performance, regardless of whether it involves their choice of raw materials, their processes or the waste they generate.

According to the Environmental Management Plan, the integrated system is planned to be extended in 2022 to cover all the bank's buildings and the calculation of its carbon footprint, including indirect emissions.