Unicaja Banco strengthens its commitment to sustainability with the approval of an Action Plan on Sustainable Finance, which will give a boost to the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into its business strategy. This strategic decision has been recently approved by the bank’s Board of Directors.
With this action, included in one of the axes of Unicaja Banco Strategic and Transformation Plan 2020-2022, the bank adapts to the current trends and good practices in ESG, and it also reflects the demands from stakeholders such as customers and investors.
With this Action Plan on Sustainable Finance, which includes 21 measures, the bank intends to arrange the transition to a model integrating topics related to sustainability, specifically, in four areas: business models and strategies; governance; risk management (especially, climate and environmental risks) and transparence. In this sense, Unicaja Banco seeks with this initiative the progressive incorporation of sustainability factors into its corporate culture.
Additionally, the plan also intends to integrate those risks related to the environment and climate change into the bank’s management model, as well as to define goals and set metrics and indicators to assist the bank in making strategic decisions.
Among other measures, Unicaja Banco wants to facilitate the transition of its products to the sustainability classification, as well as to contribute to the development and sale of new retail and wholesale financial products and services that promote sustainable consumption and investments.
Commitment to society, environment and fight against climate change
This initiative, which falls within the actions that Unicaja Banco has been developing for years through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy, renews the commitment to social and environmental sustainability of both the bank and the companies in its Group.
A proof of the above is the bank’s commitment to the 10 Principles of the Global Compact, to the 2030 Agenda and to the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Furthermore, Unicaja Banco strongly supports the fight against climate change, as it was seen in December last year, on the occasion of the COP25 held in Madrid, when the bank signed, along with a large number of Spain’s financial institutions, an collective agreement on climate change, under which it undertook to reduce the carbon footprint in its credit portfolios.
Finally, the bank has developed several actions to inform on SDGs and sustainable finance, both directly and through the Edufinet Project on financial education, promoted by Unicaja Banco and Fundación Unicaja together with other institutions.