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.

Nordea is dedicated to fostering and maintaining strong, trusted relationships with its stakeholders. The bank actively seeks insights into their expectations and responds promptly with appropriate actions and engagement. Nordea has identified six primary stakeholder groups: customers, employees, investors, suppliers, supervisory authorities, and the broader society.

The bank maintains ongoing dialogue with all key stakeholder groups, with a particular focus on customers and investee companies, to understand the sustainability challenges and opportunities they encounter in their respective environments. This approach enables Nordea to address material sustainability issues effectively and to translate its sustainability commitments into tangible actions. Nordea’s strategy emphasizes dialogue over disengagement. Key engagement metrics include customer preferences (such as post-advisory surveys), active ownership activities (voting and engagement with investee companies), climate-related customer engagement (LC&I clients), ESG ratings, employee engagement (via People Pulse), and supplier sustainability assessments.

Additionally, Nordea undertakes specific initiatives to support vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, through information sessions to address questions and gather feedback. Nordea also provides dedicated senior customer service lines in Norway and Finland to assist older clients. Furthermore, the bank engages with customers on debt management by communicating clearly across multiple channels and monitoring feedback to reduce risks and improve their financial well-being.

How did Nordea identify and work on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts?

In its 2024 PRB Responsible Banking Progress Statement Nordea reports that it identified and worked on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts as follows:

As the leading financial services group in the Nordics, Nordea has the potential to make a substantial impact through the advice, products, and support provided to customers to facilitate sustainability-focused investment decisions. In DMA, Nordea identified key opportunities related to climate change and offers several sustainability-related products to support these efforts.

Nordea Sustainable Selection is Nordea’s fund offering that incorporates enhanced sustainability criteria. It was created to assist Nordic clients in navigating the wide range of products with varying sustainability features and levels of ambition available in the market. The framework for Nordea Sustainable Selection requires both the product and its provider to meet a set of established sustainability criteria. The offering includes both Article 8 and Article 9 products as defined by the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). As the market evolves and customer demands increase, Nordea’s sustainable product range will continue to expand and develop. In 2024, Nordea introduced a new product category called Sustainable Selection Improve, which emphasizes active ownership with specific, measurable engagement targets aimed at enhancing the sustainability profile of portfolio companies. Nordea set a target for gross flows into Nordea Sustainable Selection funds to reach 33% of total flows by 2025, supporting the Group’s climate objectives to reduce emissions in the investment portfolio by 40-50% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. By the end of 2024, the share of gross flows into Nordea Sustainable Selection funds had reached 23%.

Nordea’s sustainable and sustainability-linked finance products play a key role in integrating sustainability into the bank’s funding and liquidity strategies by offering sustainable investment options to pension funds and other bond investors. The Nordea Green Funding Framework and the Sustainability-Linked Loan Funding Framework mark significant progress toward embedding ESG and sustainability considerations into core operations, by establishing clear assessment criteria and management practices for proceeds. In 2024, Nordea issued over EUR 3.6 billion in sustainable funding across four currencies, bringing the total outstanding sustainable issuance to more than EUR 14 billion. Green bonds generally offer lower yields and enjoy stronger investor demand compared to conventional bonds. The cost of fund benefit or “greenium” that Nordea receives for green bonds is passed on to business units and ultimately to customers on a quarterly basis.

 

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 Nordea, 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.nordea.com/en/doc/nordea-principles-for-responsible-banking-2024.pdf

Note to Nordea: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.

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.

Nordea is dedicated to fostering and maintaining strong, trusted relationships with its stakeholders. The bank actively seeks insights into their expectations and responds promptly with appropriate actions and engagement. Nordea’s six primary stakeholder groups are customers, employees, investors, suppliers, supervisory authorities, and the broader society.

Nordea maintains ongoing engagement with all key stakeholder groups, with particular focus on customers and investee companies, to understand the sustainability challenges and opportunities they encounter in their respective environments. This approach enables Nordea to address significant sustainability issues and effectively implement its sustainability commitments. Nordea’s strategy emphasizes dialogue over disengagement. Key engagement activities include collecting customer preferences through surveys (e.g., post-advisory), active ownership engagement such as voting and discussions with investee companies, customer involvement on climate matters (LC&I customers), monitoring ESG ratings, employee engagement via People Pulse surveys, and supplier assessments related to sustainability impacts.

Additionally, Nordea conducts targeted initiatives to support vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, through support meetings to provide information and gather feedback. The bank also offers dedicated senior customer service lines in Norway and Finland for older clients. Furthermore, Nordea engages with customers on debt management by providing clear communication across multiple channels and monitoring feedback to mitigate risks and promote financial well-being.

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

In its 2024 PRB Responsible Banking Progress Statement Nordea reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:

Nordea believes that proactive engagement with its customers and supporting their transition through financing and other financial services is an effective way to accelerate the shift toward a low-carbon economy. Nordea’s initiatives include enhancing customer experience by gathering feedback to address complaints, offering training in local communities to promote financial well-being and assist customers with limited digital skills, supporting customers in their net-zero transition planning, assessing their sustainability preferences, expanding Nordea’s Sustainable Selection offerings, and refining industry credit policies to address sector-specific topics.

Through ESG-focused product offerings, Nordea promotes sustainable practices and actively collaborates with customers and investees, which is central to its sustainability strategy and objectives. These products enable the integration of sustainability into Nordea’s funding and liquidity strategies, including sustainability-related financing activities. Over recent years, demand for Nordea’s sustainability solutions has significantly increased—driven by customer interest and the expansion of Nordea’s product range, advisory services, and engagement efforts. With extensive expertise in sustainability-linked and green lending, ESG-focused investment products, and active ownership, Nordea is well-positioned to continue supporting the transition of its customers and investee companies toward a sustainable future.

Nordea is committed to developing products and solutions that support its transition goals, enabling it to amplify positive impacts through financing sustainable activities while reducing negative impacts (financing the transition away from high-emitting activities). Through ongoing dialogue, Nordea encourages its customers to strengthen and refine their transition strategies, providing them with the necessary financing to facilitate their journey. These efforts align with Nordea’s 2025 commitments to facilitate over EUR 200 billion in sustainable financing and to ensure that 90% of its exposure to large corporate clients in climate-vulnerable sectors is backed by transition plans.

 

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 Nordea, 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.nordea.com/en/doc/nordea-principles-for-responsible-banking-2024.pdf

Note to Nordea: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2018 Sustainability Report Nordea identified a range of material issues, such as climate action, diversity and inclusion, business ethics, community engagement. Among these, respecting and promoting human rights stands out as a key material issue for Nordea.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards                        

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups Nordea engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Employees	·      Coffee corners ·      People Pulse
Management	·      GEM ·      BA Heads ·      BEVC ·      Sustainability Committee
Board of Directors	·      Meetings
Customers	·      Customer satisfaction surveys ·      Individual customer meetings ·      Customer contact centre
Owners	·      Annual General Meeting ·      Individual investor meetings ·      Investor questionnaires
Suppliers	·      Qualifying questionnaire ·      Supplier audits ·      Individual meetings
Regulators	·      EU Commission ·      FSA
NGOs	·      Fair Finance Guide ·      Amnesty
Media	·      Interviews ·      Press releases

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics Nordea conducted workshops and interviews with both internal and external stakeholders.

What actions were taken by Nordea to respect and promote human rights?

In its 2018 Sustainability Report Nordea reports that it took the following actions for respecting and promoting human rights:

• Assessing human rights-related risks
• As part of risk evaluations in the credit decision-making process for a customer Nordea analyses and assesses companies’ risk exposure, risk management and performance regarding human and labour rights. Nordea investigates whether companies have been involved in controversies, and the actions they have taken to mitigate and rectify the potential impacts of such controversies. All Nordea funds are also subject to annual norm-based screening, used to identify listed companies allegedly involved in breaches of international law and norms, including human rights. If a company is identified in this screening process, Nordea will initiate an internal assessment process of the company and the incident.

• Integrating human rights into guidelines
• Nordea supports the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and has included human rights in its Code of Conduct, Sustainability Policy, Responsible Investment Policy, Supplier Code of Conduct and its Sector Guideline for the Defence Industry. Human rights also form part of Nordea’s Code of Conduct training, which is mandatory for all employees as part of their Licence to Work training.

• Working in partnerships
• Nordea is a funding member and a member of the Advisory Council of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB). The benchmark aims to measure, on an annual basis, the human rights performance of the world’s 500 largest publicly listed companies, looking at the policies, processes and practices the companies have in place to address their human rights efforts, and how they respond to serious allegations of human rights violations. The 2018 benchmark assessed 101 companies from the Agricultural Products, Apparel, and Extractives industries that were chosen on the basis of their size (market capitalisation) and revenues. Nordea believes that the CHRB will raise the level of awareness of the materiality of human rights and help companies meet investor expectations on human rights. It will also enable financial institutions such as Nordea to assess and help clients make sure they are not linked to human rights abuses.

• Addressing children’s rights
• Nordea is a board member of the Financial Coalition against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, a collaboration between Swedish banks, other financial companies in Sweden, the Swedish Bankers’ Association, ECPAT Sweden and other relevant participants. The coalition aims to prevent crime in cooperation with the Swedish Police and to eliminate the means of making payments for child pornography. In 2018, several working groups were established to advance these efforts.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 412-1 Operations that have been subject to human rights reviews or impact assessments

Disclosure 412-1 Operations that have been subject to human rights reviews or impact assessments does not correspond to any SDG.

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

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References:

1) This case study is based on published information by Nordea, 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 original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:

http://database.globalreporting.org/

2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/

Note to Nordea: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.