Urgency of the climate problem

Chief Operating Officer Jellie Banga has signed the commitment on behalf of Triodos Bank and Triodos Investment Management. “We see this commitment as a big step forward, because now the financial sector will really contribute to the transition to a sustainable economy. This does justice to our position in society and the urgency of the climate problem. Triodos Bank has therefore championed this commitment. Nevertheless, the commitment still offers room for a limited reduction in fossil assets, so we will continue to strive for a complete reduction of all fossil assets by the financial sector.”

Triodos Bank climate impact

The mission of Triodos Bank is to let its clients' money work for positive social, ecological or cultural changes. Since its foundation, Triodos Bank has therefore been financing sustainable energy projects. In its annual report for 2018, the bank reports for the first time on the CO2 impact of its loans and investments. With the method of the Platform Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), it has mapped the greenhouse gas emissions from its loans and investments.

The results show that the renewable energy portfolio leads to substantial avoided CO2 emissions. For example, by financing sustainable energy projects such as wind and solar parks, Triodos Bank promotes the production of green energy that in the long term will replace the need for fossil fuels such as coal. Furthermore, these initial results show that Triodos Bank's customers have relatively low CO2 emissions.

With this data, Triodos Bank will further improve and expand monitoring and measurements. And the bank will set concrete targets to contribute to the Paris climate goals to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius.