To promote SEB SEB has updated its sustainability strategy by setting new climate ambitions and at the same time measuring the environmental impact of its investments and loan portfolio. Representatives of SEB banka informed the agency LETA.
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Ieva Tetere, Chairman of the Board of SEB banka, informs that sustainability has been on the agenda of the SEB Group for a long time, supporting customers in sustainable change, as well as providing sustainable financial services solutions. Therefore, the new sustainability strategy of the SEB Group is a natural step in promoting a faster move of the population, companies and society towards a more sustainable future. With this strategy, SEB identifies concrete actions and goals that will help achieve the greatest positive impact on the climate.
The updated sustainability strategy is both part of the SEB Group’s business plan for 2022-2024 and a cornerstone of SEB’s strategy for 2030. By focusing on the importance of climate neutrality, SEB will further expand its sustainability activities, further clarify its role in the transition of society and business to green, and integrate sustainability into its products, processes and decisions.
Viktors Toropovs, SEB banka’s Head of Sustainability in Latvia, points out that the SEB Group’s climate reduction targets are ambitious, but it is clear that without active and decisive action by companies and countries, the Paris Climate Change targets will not be met. At the same time, the bank has the necessary resources and expertise to support its customers in this challenging yet necessary transformation process.
In its strategy, the SEB Group has defined concrete results to be achieved in three indicators, including the Carbon Dioxide Exposure Index, which aims to reduce the amount of loans directly related to fossil resources by 45-60% by 2030. This includes both the production and distribution of electricity and the extraction of oil and gas.
The Sustainability Index measures sustainable lending, financial advice, investment products and venture capital investment in smart technologies (“greentech”), with the goal of increasing activity six to eight times by 2030.
In turn, the Transition Ratio reflects the performance of SEB Group customers in the transition of their business models in accordance with the terms of the Paris Agreement. Through this assessment, the SEB Group will gain a better understanding of customers’ progress in the transition process, as well as be able to support them in reducing carbon emissions.
In 2009, the SEB Group developed its first sustainability strategy. In the following years, SEB continued to strengthen its climate guidelines. In 2019, SEB signed the UN Principles for Responsible Banking initiative, ie a commitment to continuously adapt its business strategy to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, and to contribute to the achievement of these goals. The SEB Group is also committed to a number of other important international commitments that support the transition to sustainability, such as the Zero Emissions Alliance, the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and the Poseidon Principles.
In February 2021, SEB approved an updated sectoral policy on fossil fuels to clarify the bank’s guidelines to include more areas and clearer positions, including a roadmap for SEB’s phasing out of its exposure to coal and unconventional oil. In the same month, SEB Investment Management strengthened its sustainability policy by introducing common exclusion criteria for all funds managed by SEB and the exclusion of fossil fuels from all funds.
SEB Group offers financial advice and a wide range of financial services in Sweden and the Baltics. In Denmark, Finland, Norway and Germany, the main priority of SEB’s operations is the provision of corporate and investment banking services to companies and institutional customers. SEB Group is represented in 20 countries around the world.
On 30 September this year, SEB Group’s total assets amounted to 3,585 billion Sweden (SEK 357.8 billion) and total assets under management of SEK 2,422 billion (EUR 241.7 billion). SEB Group has 15,500 employees.
SEB banka is the third largest bank in Latvia in terms of assets.
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