Case study: How Bradesco 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.

Bradesco actively engages and forms strategic partnerships with its stakeholders to foster sustainable development.

Key initiatives include:

• Materiality matrix: Bradesco periodically evaluates the significance of sustainability topics through a structured process that involves representatives from all stakeholder groups. This process updates the materiality matrix by reflecting their perceptions and expectations on the most important issues, while also considering key market trends and the regulatory environment.

The results support clearer communication, guiding the strategy, indicators, targets, and performance reporting.

This process occurs every two years, with the latest review in 2022 and the next planned for 2024.

Additionally, Bradesco holds regular consultation and engagement meetings with key stakeholders—such as clients, investors, regulators, and associations—to discuss risks and opportunities related to the Sustainability agenda, including reporting, performance, and transparency.

Through its voluntary sustainability commitments, Bradesco also takes part in national and international working groups aimed at advancing the agenda and engaging various stakeholders. The bank shares insights and contributes to discussions on topics like banking responsibility, climate action, and financial inclusion, in partnership with UNEP FI, NZBA, GFANZ, and others.

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

In its 2023 PRB Reporting and Self-Assessment Template Bradesco reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:

Financial institutions are pivotal in advancing sustainable development by directing resources toward activities and sectors with positive impacts and facilitating the transition to business models that reduce negative impacts.

Bradesco is dedicated to working alongside its clients, fostering the creation of sustainable businesses, and guiding them on social, environmental, and climate-related risks and opportunities.

To embed the sustainable business strategy across the organization, Bradesco continuously engages its clients and employees, particularly the commercial teams.

In 2023, Bradesco involved 860 relationship managers from the Wholesale segment in discussions about sustainable business, focusing on the risks and opportunities associated with environmental, social, and climate issues. Bradesco also hosted a series of sector-specific events aligned with its Net Zero commitment and climate agenda.

Further demonstrating its commitment, Bradesco engaged 174 clients throughout 2023 to discuss the opportunities and risks related to the ESG agenda.

Additionally, Bradesco provided tailored ESG-related training for Bradesco Asset’s internal audience, covering topics such as Governance, Carbon Pricing, and Invested Emissions, with 222 employees participating in at least one training session in 2023.

Bradesco also held discussions with its analysts on the materiality of ESG factors for various sectors and companies and provided training on the Personal Investment Policy and Abusive Practices in the Capital Markets. During the year, Bradesco directly engaged 35 companies from its investment portfolio, promoting best ESG practices with a focus on critical issues to mitigate risks and seize opportunities. Bradesco also organized a webinar for Bradesco Asset Management clients on ESG investment opportunities.

Believing that innovation can enhance its clients’ experiences, Bradesco developed an innovation ecosystem to support and inspire the institution, positioning it at the forefront of financial and non-financial products and services. In 2023, Bradesco hosted 14 events on ESG topics, including climate change, attracting around 1,895 participants both in-person and remotely.

Bradesco also engaged its audience through the Insights Podcast, launched in April 2020 to cover a variety of topics, ranging from investments to lifestyle. In 2023, Insights featured 9 episodes dedicated to ESG issues, including climate change. It is worth highlighting the sections covering the net zero agenda from the perspective of the steel and aluminum sector, as well as preparatory conversations for COP28. The sections specifically focused on net zero discussions garnered over 11,000 accesses.

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 Bradesco, 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://banco.bradesco/assets/classic/pdf/sustentabilidade/PRB-2023-self-assesment.pdf

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