ABN AMRO issues climate publication ‘Guiding a bank’s portfolio to Paris’

As stated in ABN AMRO’s Climate Statement, it is the bank’s goal to bring its lending and client investment portfolio in line with at least a well-below 2-degree scenario and to support the transition to a net zero economy in 2050. The climate publication published today focusses on the bank’s climate critical portfolios: Business Operations, Energy, Commercial Real Estate, Mortgages and Investment Services.

Robert Swaak: “Sustainability is at the core of our purpose ‘Banking for better, for generations to come’. We aim to make a positive impact by doing what we do every day – offering financial services for our clients and we also aim to lead by example. Our approach is inclusive as we support the transition to sustainability for all our clients. Science based methods enable these dialogues by quantifying and steering the various sources of greenhouse gas emissions related to our lending portfolio and our investment services. It helps us to determine how we can best reach our climate goals, working with our clients, and which actions are necessary to adhere to the Paris Agreement. Our research and development efforts also contribute to the improvement of climate risk management within the financial sector as a whole.”

The climate publication is an integral part of ABN AMRO’s cooperation with the Science Based Target initiative for Financial institutions (SBTi-FI). SBTi-FI is backed and funded by United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), World Resource Institute (WRI) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The development of the different science-based methods has enabled us to actively contribute to platforms and partnerships including the 2 Degrees Investing Initiative’s PACTA for banks and the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF). These efforts contribute to ABN AMRO’s implementation of the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board in the TCFD-programme (Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures) as disclosed in ABN AMRO’s annual report. These dialogues and pilots have given direction to the way ABN AMRO works with clients, employees, other banks, and other stakeholders.

Sustainability is a core element of the bank’s strategy. ABN AMRO aims to integrate sustainability into all its businesses, and it is the bank’s target to increase the volume of sustainable client loans and investments from around one-fifth in 2020 to one-third in 2024 through concrete targets. These targets include increasing sustainable financing in the core Corporate & Institutional Banking portfolio to 25%, among others by increasing the proportion of renewable energy in the bank’s energy portfolio to 45% by 2024. Sustainable financing in the Commercial Banking portfolio will increase by 2024 to 27% among others by increasing the financing for the circular economy to EUR 3.5 billion. ABN AMRO’s Mission 2030 calls for sustainable and future-proof real estate with lower energy bills, reflected by a weighted average energy label A for the bank’s entire real estate portfolio by 2030. ABN AMRO’s intermediate target is to increase the number of A labels in its mortgage portfolio to 28% in 2024. For investment services, the bank is committed to increasing ESG investments (screened on Environmental, Social, Governance criteria) and impact investments to EUR 46 billion by 2024.