Case study: How Eurobank works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices

Stakeholder identification and consultation

Please describe which stakeholders (or groups/ types of stakeholders) you have identified, consulted, engaged, collaborated or partnered with for the purpose of implementing the Principles and improving your bank’s impacts. This should include a high-level overview of how your bank has identified relevant stakeholders, what issues were addressed/results achieved and how they fed into the action planning process.

A core element of Eurobank’s sustainability strategy is cultivating strong relationships of trust, cooperation, and mutual benefit with all stakeholders directly or indirectly impacted by its activities. To this end, Eurobank encourages two-way communication and maintains an ongoing dialogue with stakeholders to address their expectations, concerns, and issues effectively.

As part of its Materiality Analysis process, Eurobank engaged stakeholders on topics pertinent to its sustainability efforts and responsible financing products, in line with the Principles for Responsible Banking, to gather their perspectives on Eurobank’s sustainability performance.

The materiality analysis is crucial in shaping the contents of the Annual Report 2022 Business and Sustainability. By adopting the new GRI Standards methodology (2021), Eurobank successfully identified, assessed, prioritized, and validated the positive and negative impacts the Bank has or may have on the environment, people, and the economy.

How did Eurobank work with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities?

In its 3rd year PRB Progress Report Eurobank reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:

Engaging clients and raising awareness to help them adapt their business models to address climate change challenges, along with dedicated actions to support customers in their transition efforts towards a more ESG-friendly economic environment, are key components of Eurobank’s financed impact strategy.

To support the green transition of its clients, Eurobank has developed a dedicated approach comprising the following elements:

• Establishing frameworks that define the approach and criteria for classifying its financing and investing activities as sustainable.
• Providing direct financing for projects that meet green eligibility criteria, or offering Sustainability Linked Loans, focusing on leveraging clients’ commitments towards green transition.
• Offering financing solutions for consumers and small businesses aimed at delivering positive environmental impacts.
• Advising current and potential clients to support their green transition efforts.
• Asset and wealth management using ESG criteria.
• Integrating climate-related and ESG risks into the client financing evaluation process.

Moreover, Eurobank focuses on building capacity among its employees to support clients on their sustainability journeys and green transitions. Alongside launching ESG initiatives for clients, Eurobank implements, accordingly, an ESG upskilling plan for its employees. Specifically for business units with crucial roles in delivering the ESG strategy, Eurobank has initiated dedicated sessions focused on sustainable financing approaches and identifying opportunities.

UN Principles for Responsible Banking: Accelerating a positive global transition for people and the planet

With over 300 signatory banks representing almost half of the global banking industry, the Principles for Responsible Banking are the world’s foremost sustainable banking framework. Through these Principles, the banking community takes action to align core strategies, decision-making, lending and investment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and international agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement.

FBRH Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) Assurance:

First class PRB assurance services: The result of solid, hands-on ESG/ Sustainability experience

• • • FBRH is a GRI Certified Training Partner (Global), ISEP Training Centre and a member of CPD.
    • FBRH builds trust. Over 200 reviews from top professionals from around the world demonstrate our ability to build strong, trusting business relationships.
    • FBRH possesses a unique skill set that combines ESG/sustainability certified training, experience in advisory services and report preparation, and ESG/sustainability report assurance.

The combination of all the above empowers FBRH to provide first class Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) assurance services.

References:

This case study is based on published information by Eurobank, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://www.eurobank.gr/-/media/holding/omilos/annual-reports/etisios-apologismos-2022/unep-fi-principles-responsible-banking.pdf

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