This July, Unicaja Banco celebrates the tenth anniversary of its adhesion to the UN Global Compact. Ten years in which the bank has integrated into its strategy, culture and action plan the ten universal principles on issues such as human rights, labor standards or the environment. It has also reinforced its commitment to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, showing its involvement in balanced and sustainable economic development, and communicating this to its various stakeholders.
Unicaja Banco became a signatory of the Global Compact in July 2013, and in April 2017, as a member of the Spanish Global Compact Network. This adhesion means supporting the actions promoted by the UN to achieve its goals and objectives, including the SDGs.
Over ten years, Unicaja Banco has integrated these principles and the SDGs into its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy, through which it seeks to contribute to the creation of sustainable value for its stakeholders. For this reason, effective management and a culture of ethical, responsible and transparent banking are carried out.
During this decade, various training activities have been carried out and the bank has collaborated in communication campaigns promoted by Spain UN Global Compact.
Corporate sustainibility initiative
The UN Global Compact is a UN initiative for corporate sustainability in the private sector, so that, in addition to generating financial profitability, it creates environmental, social and economic value in the medium and long term, thus contributing to the progress and well-being of communities and future generations.
As a reinforcement of this commitment, in 2020 Unicaja Banco joined the ‘Statement from Business Leaders for Renewed International Cooperation’, promoted globally by the UN Global Compact, on the 75th anniversary of the creation of the UN and the 20th anniversary of the Global Compact.
This declaration aims to unite businesses in favour of international cooperation based on respect for human rights and sustainable development, as well as ethical leadership and good governance. The Statement also supports the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
The main challenge in the decade for action is to finance the 2030 Agenda, as the SDGs will only be achieved through large-scale public and private resource mobilization.
Sustainable Finance Action Plan
Another example of Unicaja Banco’s commitment to this Agenda, from the perspective of the development of financial activity, is the establishment of its Sustainable Finance Action Plan, approved by the Board of Directors in 2020, revised in 2021 and fully implemented in the first quarter of this year.
The financial institution promotes the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria in the core of its business strategy, in its management tools, in the marketing of financial products and services and in the development of its action plans.
This Action Plan serves to promote the integration of sustainability criteria in the business model, in risk management and in the disclosure of information, and, additionally, allows Unicaja Banco to respond to the supervisory expectations of the European Central Bank (ECB).
