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 since the launch of the Pledge amounts to €22,000m (ﬁgure as of June 2019, latest available data). Additionally, BBVA published the ﬁrst monitoring report on its ﬁrst green bond, issued in 2018, which has contributed to reduce around 275,000 tons of CO₂ in its ﬁrst year.

In Spain, BBVA is positioned at the forefront of sustainable products, being one of the most active ﬁnancial entities regarding this issue. In this sense, the Bank is developing products which oﬀer sustainable solutions for all customers (individuals, SMEs, large companies and institutions), i.e., products that seek to respond to a growing demand from society, which is increasingly aware of the ﬁght against climate change. Among them, the highlighted lines are, loan for promotion of high energy-eﬃcient housing with a bonus on the diﬀerential of the mortgage and loans for all customers wishing to purchase electric or hybrid cars.

As part of its objective to engage its stakeholders, BBVA signed in September the Principles of Responsible Banking, promoted by the Financial Initiative of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP FI) at the United Nations General Assembly held in New York on September 22. It is a joint response of 130 banking entities and the UN to align the banking business with long-term objectives which integrate social and environmental challenges.

In addition, the Bank joined the Collective Commitment to Climate Action launched by 31 international ﬁnancial institutions within the framework of the United Nations climate summit, which was held in New York on September 23. This statement was born within the Principles of Responsible Banking which intends to its promoters determination to align their portfolios to reﬂect and ﬁnance the low-carbon, climate-resilient economy required to limit global warming to well-below 2, striving for 1.5 degrees Celsius. Also, these 31 international ﬁnancial institutions will pursue a set of common goals to help facilitate the economic transition necessary to achieve climate neutrality; and they have committed to work together and support each other in developing each bank’s capabilities and the necessary methodologies to measure climate impact and alignment with global and local climate goals. For BBVA and all signatory institutions, this commitment aims to align its products and services with a collective strategy in the face of the climate crisis.

Regarding responsible practices with employees, BBVA launched the Be Yourself proposal, carried out by its employees to work on diversity. This project aims to achieve a diverse and inclusive work environment, and has been presented by the working group to the rest of the employees with the support of the senior management of the Bank and a group of speakers who have discussed about the challenges and diﬃculties that LGTBI people face.

Within the framework of community investment, education for society has an important weight. From 2008 to 2018, BBVA allocated more than €80 million to ﬁnancial education programs worldwide that beneﬁted more than 13 million people.

In July 2019, BBVA hosted in Madrid the third edition of the EduFin Summit 2019, the global meeting of the BBVA Center for Financial Education and Capability in which ﬁnancial health and education are discussed every year. The event brought together over 30 experts in ﬁnancial education from 16 countries, including agents of public administrations, universities, think-tanks and professionals in education and ﬁnance. This edition addressed the issue of how digitalization contributes to improving the health of people's ﬁnances, and the discussion about the need for the technological revolution to become more inclusive or about the use of chatbots and artiﬁcial intelligence in the daily life of personal ﬁnances.

Finally, as aforementioned in the BBVA share section, BBVA continued to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), the market’s leading benchmark index, which measures the economic, environmental and social performance of the most valuables companies by market capitalization of the world (in the DJSI World and DJSI Europe), while Garanti BBVA continued to be included in the DJSI Emerging Markets. In the renewal of 2019, BBVA achieved the highest score in ﬁnancial inclusion and occupational health and safety, and highest scores in climate strategy, environmental reporting and corporate citizenship and philanthropy.