Responsible banking

At BBVA we have a differential banking model that we refer to as responsible banking, based on seeking out the profitability adjusted to principles, strict legal compliance, best practices and the creation of long-term value for all stakeholders. The four pillars of BBVA's responsible banking model are as follows:

Balanced relationships with its customers, based on transparency, clarity and responsibility.
Sustainable finance to combat climate change, respect human rights and achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Responsible practices with employees, suppliers and other stakeholders.
Community investment to promote social change and create opportunities for all.

In 2018, BBVA announced its 2025 Pledge. This sets out the Bank's strategy for climate change and sustainable development, working toward meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change. The pledge is an eight-year commitment based on three lines of action:

To finance: BBVA is pledging to mobilize €100 billion in green and social financing, sustainable infrastructure and agribusiness, social entrepreneurship and financial inclusion.
To manage the environmental and social risks associated with the Group's activity in order to minimize its potential direct and indirect negative impacts. BBVA pledges that 70% of energy used by the Group will be renewable by 2025, reaching 100% by 2030, and to reduce direct CO2 emissions by 68% with respect to 2015.
To engage all stakeholders to collectively promote the financial sector's contribution to sustainable development.

The figure for sustainable finance mobilized in the first half of 2019 amounts to €10,000m (up 50% year-on-year) which, added to €11,815m of 2018, represents a cumulative amount of approximately €22,000m mobilized since the launch of the Pledge.

In the second quarter of 2019, BBVA published the first monitoring report on its first green bond as part of its commitment to issue sustainable bonds. With this issuance, as noted in the report, BBVA contributed to reducing the carbon footprint by 274,609 tons of CO2 in 2018 from the date of issue in May of that year, and by another 106,529 tons estimated in 2019, and s generated 558 gigawatt/hour of renewable energy. The Bank allocated €1,000m obtained from wholesale markets to finance renewable energy and sustainable transportation projects. In addition, BBVA issued its second green bond in June, also on a senior non-preferred bond, with a maturity of seven years and an amount of €1,000m. The operation was very well received by investors.

In the retail business BBVA launched in Spain a new green line of loan worth €20m for all customers wishing to purchase electric or hybrid cars. This new product seeks to respond to growing demand from society, which is increasingly aware of the fight against climate change.

As part of its objective to engage its stakeholders, BBVA continues to participate in different initiatives within sector associations such as the Spanish Banking Association (Asociación Española de Banca, AEB) and the European Banking Federation (EBF), where the Bank chairs the sustainable finance group as well as in working groups related to this issue, also collaborating in consultations on taxonomy, regulation, disclosure and other objectives of the European Commission Sustainable Finance Action Plan.

Within the framework of community investment, education for society has an important weight. Thus, BBVA in Mexico decided to double the contribution it makes to the Foundation from 2019, allocating more than MXN 1,000m (€46m at the average exchange rate of the first half of the year) which, added to the voluntary contributions of the community, will have more than MXN1,500m per year, significantly increasing the number of education grants awarded.

For its part, the Learning Together educational project, BBVA aims to lead and promote conversation about education in the 21st century, bearing in mind that education is the great opportunity to improve people's lives. The project, which was born in January 2018 with a transforming vocation and which aims to create opportunities in more than 3 million homes and its educational community,is being followed by more than one million people in social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube), with about 400 million views of its inspiring content, and with more than 24,700 teachers and parents being trained in the online courses it offers.

In addition, in June 2019, the BBVA Foundation held a ceremony in Bilbao to award the Frontiers of Knowledge prizes , worth 400,000 euros in each of its eight categories. In this eleventh edition of the awards, focused on achieving a greater commitment to sustainability of the planet, twelve new researchers were added to recognize contributions on subjects ranging from sea level rise to discovery of the microbiome.

Finally, BBVA develops entrepreneurship programs and initiatives that benefited 2.2 million people in 2018. These programs especially target entrepreneurs who are in vulnerable circumstances and those whose projects will have a positive impact on society or the environment. With them, BBVA seeks to foster social change and create opportunities for all. Among the global initiatives related to entrepreneurship, the following stand out:

The BBVA Microfinance Foundation, the private philanthropic initiative with the greatest social impact in Latin America, supports vulnerable entrepreneurs through productive finance. It has two lines of action: establish a group of sustainable and innovative microfinance institutions, and to promote the transformation of the financial sector. Since its launch in 2007, the BBVA Microfinance Foundation has invested $11,775m in productive loans that have benefited 2 million people across 5 countries, with special focus on women.
BBVA Momentum is a global program that includes training, strategic accompaniment , financing, collaboration, networking and visibility for social entrepreneurs who are changing the world through their companies. Since its launch in 2011, more than 500 entrepreneurs from Colombia, Spain, the United States, Mexico, Peru and Turkey have participated.
BBVA Open Talent is a fintech startups competition that aims to promote innovative technological solutions and make emerging projects visible with the capacity to transform the financial sector. Since 2008, this contest has handed out €1.8m in prizes to 600 startups in over 80 countries, with more than 700 professionals involved.
BBVA Blue Challenge is a program aimed at helping young university students to channel all their energy into development of projects with which they can change the world by offering entrepreneurship training program that stands out for the high level of its participants. Since its inception in 2016, more than 5,000 young people from 23 countries have completed the program.