Santander commits to becoming carbon neutral in 2020

Banco Santander has committed to become carbon neutral in 2020 by offsetting all the emissions generated by its own operations. The bank, which has 200,000 employees worldwide in 10 core market in Europe and the Americas, has already cut its emissions by 27% between 2011 and 2018, while electricity fell by 15% in the same period. 

43% of electricity purchased by the Group came from renewable sources in 2018, and the bank has committed to source all its electricity from renewable sources, where possible, by 2025. Furthermore, 100% of its buildings around the world will have the ISO 14001 certification by 2025 -  the core set of standards used by organizations for designing and implementing effective environmental management system.

With these and other actions, the bank expects to cut total emissions by a further 46% from 2019 to 2025. 

Ana Botín, Group Executive Chairman of Banco Santander, said: “Santander is one of the leading providers of renewable energy finance in the world and we are committed to playing our part in tackling climate change. The commitment we have announced today is an important step. We can address the challenge of climate change only by working together and by increasing our ambition and pace.”

Santander’s drive to cut its own emissions comes as it steps up its initiatives to help the transition to the green economy. The bank, which is a world leader in financing renewable energy projects and having launched its first green bond in October, has committed to raise and mobilise €120 billion in green finance from 2019 to 2025 and €220 billion to 2030. It has also committed to the Collective Commitment on Climate, promoted by the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). It requires signatories to set and publish sector-specific, scenario-based targets to align lending portfolios to the Paris Agreement on climate change.