Sustainable operations
As a bank, we can make the biggest impact by helping our clients become more sustainable. But our own operations clearly also impact the environment and our society. We aim to reduce our footprint by making our offices, purchasing and business travel more sustainable, simultaneously helping our suppliers to make headway around sustainability. We also use the expertise we gain through this to support our clients in their transition to sustainability. Accelerating the sustainability shift presumes being able to entice our clients to opt for sustainable alternatives, in which having a visibly sustainable business operation is key.
Climate: net-zero business operation in 2030
Our contribution to the climate transition starts with taking full responsibility for our own environmental footprint. We are committed to ambitious carbon emissions reduction to achieve a net-zero business operation across our own operations by 2030.
Our climate commitments:
We aim to reduce 95% of our scope 1, scope 2, and business travel emissions and compensate for all remaining emissions (5%) using carbon removal credits by year-end 2030 (base year 2015).
We aim to further increase our buildings’ energy-efficiency and operate out of a 100% Paris Proof building portfolio in the Netherlands in 2030. This means our offices and branches will use under 50 kilowatt hours (kWh) on average per square metre GFA per annum.*
We already procure renewable electricity, biogas and CO2-neutral district cooling in the Netherlands and aim to procure 100% renewable energy for our operations in the Netherlands in 2025 and outside of the Netherlands in 2030.
We aim to reduce our carbon emissions from commuting in the Netherlands by 50% by year-end 2030 (base year 2016, Anders Reizen commitment)
We aim to reach a 100% electric lease fleet in the Netherlands by year-end 2024. In 2030 we expect our full international lease fleet to be electric.
We aim to reduce international business travel emissions by 80% by year-end 2030 (base year 2015).
Our climate progress
Indicator | 2015 figures | 2023 figures | Target | Target year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
CO2 emissions (scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 business travel) | 52,3 kTon CO2 | 10,63 kTon CO2 (-80%) | 2,6 kTon CO2 (-95%, baseline 2015) | 2030 |
Energy consumption of our offices in the Netherlands (kWh/m2 GFA)* | 198 | 111 | <50 | 2030 |
Sourcing renewable energy in the Netherlands | 69% | 86% | 100% renewable energy | 2025 |
*This does not include our data centres and buildings with a protected monument status.
Office buildings becoming “Paris-proof”
Burning fossil fuels for the production of energy is the of carbon emissions globally. In order to minimise our emissions, ABN AMRO focuses on reducing its energy consumption by implementing efficiency measures.
At the end of 2023, 94% of our buildings had an energy label A. An energy label reflects to what extent a building has sustainable equipment and provisions in place, such as solar panels, insulation or geothermal power. The more of these, the higher the label. Despite its undeniable contribution to making property more sustainable, such labelling says little about actual carbon emissions.
ABN AMRO’s ambition is to have its offices and branches in the Netherlands on average at a Paris-proof level by 2030 at the latest. This means that our buildings meet the requirements of the Paris Proof standard and use under 50 kilowatt hours per square metre (kWh/m2 GFA) a year on average. Meticulous planning will help carry out adjustments at natural replacement times, ensuring that materials are not removed unnecessarily but are used until ‘spent’ and then replaced by a Paris-proof version. In recent years, we have brought down our energy consumption from 150 kWh per square metre GFA per annum in 2018 to 111 kWh per square metre GFA per annum in 2023.
Renewable Energy Procurement
For our energy consumption, we generate electricity by installing photovoltaic (PV) panels and procure renewable electricity, biogas and district cooling for our offices and datacentres in the Netherlands. In 2023, 86% of our energy consumption in the Netherlands is renewable and we are pushing to increase this to 100%.
ABN AMRO currently procures Guarantees of Origen (GO’s) for 100% of its electricity and gas needs in the Netherlands. The electricity GO’s are certified by SMK (Stichting MilieuKeur). In all other countries we operate in, we aim to procure 100% renewable energy for our energy demand from 2030 onwards.
Mobility
ABN AMRO joined the Alternative Travel coalition (Anders Reizen) in 2018. This coalition includes more than forty Dutch corporates that have agreed to reduce by half their carbon emissions from commuting by 2030 relative to 2016. To meet this target, we support employees who want to travel sustainably in a variety of ways.
In 2022, ABN AMRO introduced a uniform and flexible commute policy that reflects employees’ needs in connection with hybrid working. This ‘pay-per-use’ model enables employees to use different modes of transport in a single journey, promoting flexibility and the use of public transport. We also provide our employees with a tax-friendly option to purchase a bicycle or electric bicycle and offer our employees a tax-friendly bicycle lease option in cooperation with Lease a Bike.
Employees who drive 15,000 or more business kilometres per year can opt for a company lease car. In order to reduce our climate impact, we will continue to electrify our lease fleet. We are well on track and are now enhancing this commitment as we are set to reach a 100% electric fleet in the Netherlands by year end of 2024. In 2030 we expect our full international lease fleet to be electric.
For colleagues who do not have a company car, we have teamed up with Amber by MyWheels, offering a network of ‘hubs’ and ‘service areas’ in cities throughout the Netherlands for using modern electric cars that have been specially developed for sharing.
International business travel
We are also taking measures to reduce international business travel emissions by 80% by 2030 (base year 2015), targeting 2.6 kTon of CO2. By offering viable alternatives to travel, substituting air travel with rail travel for all business travel up to 700 km(previously 600 km), procuring sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and assuring a maximum spend on business travel per year for each department.
Carbon offsetting
We currently purchase Verra (VSC) certified carbon avoidance credits from biogas fermentation and energy generation projects in the Netherlands for a comparatively extensive range of scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, including off-premise datacenters and Software-as-a-Service, our employees’ public transport commute and home workplace. In line with our carbon reduction strategy, we are moving towards allowing for offsetting residual emissions only when there are limited viable alternatives to eliminate emissions, only using carbon removal credits.
Procuring credits of a higher quality for a possibly more limited scope (scope 1, 2 and business travel) enables us to commit to a net-zero target and implement an extra incentive to speed up carbon emissions reduction. As we continue to focus on reducing our actual emissions and expect to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions to zero before 2030, we will only rely on carbon removal credits to compensate for the 5% of emissions (business travel) we expect to remain in 2030 in reaching our net-zero targets.
Sustainable procurement
As a relatively large company, ABN AMRO is a major buyer of a great many products and services. As well as costs, sustainability also plays a role in the selection of suppliers.
