The need to implement a green economy today

The green mindset has permeated everything. There is no sector, public or private, that has not aligned with the guiding principles of the Paris Agreement, an agreement between countries under the 2015 United Nations Convention on Climate Change, to limit global warming.

The green agenda is an element of competitiveness

It is important to promote sustainable financing and investment, that is, to increase the ability of organizations to attract resources for their activities on the basis of financial, environmental, social and corporate governance criteria. Something, in addition, that investors and customers also demand, that not only profit and profitability are sought when choosing projects in which to invest, but also that there is a positive impact on society.

Increase investments in sustainable and efficient projects

Banco Santander has very specific initiatives to promote green investments around renewable energies. In fact, the entity has been financing photovoltaic power plants in Spain for two decades and is today, in addition, an international leader in wind and marine energy investment.

In fact, Banco Santander was a world leader in renewable energy financing according to Dealogic data at the end of 2020, backed by newly built renewable energy projects (Greenfield) with a total installed capacity of 13.765 megawatts (MW), which is enough to supply it. Energy for 10.3 million homes and avoided emission of 60 million tons of carbon dioxide.

It also contributed to the expansion, improvement and maintenance of existing renewable energy infrastructure projects (the brown field) with a production capacity of 8,106 megawatts. assemble a lot of Greenfield Like Brownfield, the renewable energy financing portfolio was €11.6 billion at the end of 2020.

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Sustainable investing and green bonds

In parallel, Banco Santander issued its third green bond worth €1,000 million under the Global Sustainable Bond Framework. All this, within the framework of its commitment to allocate or mobilize 120,000 million euros in green finance between 2019-2025 and 220,000 million by 2030. As of the first half of 2021, more than 41,000 million euros have already been mobilized (only 15.200 million in 2020).

In terms of nature conservation, Banco Santander is developing various initiatives in all the countries in which it operates, such as Spain, where it has reached an agreement with Repsol and Silvestris Group to promote the Motor Verde project, which is CO2. The Emissions Offset Initiative, which focuses on reforestation and forest regeneration, which aims to make our country a European standard in the offsets sector.

The entity also has Project Natura, which includes various activities where both Santander volunteer staff members and citizens who wish to join are dedicated to reforesting forests, cleaning beaches and riverbanks or setting nesting boxes for the care and preservation of the species.

It also has dozens of products for clients and investors in Spain, such as green mortgages, financing of real estate developments with high energy certificates, investment funds linked to sustainability, as well as purchase loans and Leasing Eco cars or ISR funds.

Beyond our borders, Banco Santander is a co-founder of the British Initiative’net zero with naturewhose goal is to restore the UK’s natural parks. He is also involved in a project aimed at preserving one of Poland’s protected ecosystems, the Mala Czantoria region and the Wielka Czantoria Mountains in Lower Silesia.

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In Latin America, this is part of a historic agreement between the three major private banks in Brazil for the sustainable development and preservation of the Amazon region. It’s been a year since they joined forces and are now focusing their efforts on sustainable crops, bioeconomy, livestock and land regulation.

End goal: net zero emissions by 2050

All of these initiatives are part of a global strategy in which the ultimate goal is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Some of the challenges that the entity, a founding member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, is considering in its working paper is to align its portfolio with the goals of Paris (2015), which is why Banco Santander has set 2030 as the year it will stop providing financial services to customers of electricity companies that rely on coal for more than 10%, and this standard will extend to sectors such as fossil or gas, among others.

The Spanish company will also continue to develop green products for its clients, such as green mortgages, energy efficiency loans, for installing solar panels, etc. Finally, in terms of its environmental footprint, Santander has been able to be 100% carbon neutral at the end of 2020 thanks to the use of clean energy and other initiatives such as completely eliminating single-use plastic in all its offices and will continue to work to reduce your footprint.

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