Committed to making a Social Impact
Monday 25 July 2022
UniCredit is proud to launch its Social Results 2021 Report showcasing how we are contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and supporting our communities with impact financing, microcredit and dedicated social initiatives to consistently Empower them to Progress.
Sustainability is a critical part of UniCredit’s new 2022-2024 Strategic Plan, UniCredit Unlocked, with our strong social commitment fully embedded within it, reflecting our drive of Empowering Communities to Progress. We are constantly working to increase our social impact and support to communities. We have set ambitious ESG targets for all areas of our business, including 150 billion euros in cumulative ESG volumes, which also foresees a tenfold increase, compared to the previous business plan, in the amount of social finance we provide through our Social Impact Banking to 10 billion euros by 2024.
Fiona Melrose, Head of Group Strategy and ESG said: “At UniCredit, we believe that banks have an important social function which goes far beyond lending. Our role is to support our clients and communities in making meaningful progress towards a more sustainable, inclusive and fair society both today and tomorrow. We will continue to play our part in doing so: cultivating stakeholders’ trust, supporting impactful social initiatives and consistently measuring our results to ensure we are held accountable. This will ensure ESG is always at the heart of all our actions.”
As a testament of our ambitions we are expanding our social lending to include high social impact and activities in disadvantaged areas. By the end of 2021, we had distributed more than 400 million euros in microcredit and impact financing to around 3.7 million direct and indirect beneficiaries.
In doing so, UniCredit has contributed with:
Close to 150 million euros towards SDG 3: “Good health and wellbeing”
Over 140 million euros to SDG 8: “Decent work and economic growth”
56 million euros to SDG 1: “No poverty”
Over 23 million euros to SDG 10: “Reduced inequalities”
19 million euros to SDG 11: “Sustainable cities and communities”
Over 17 million euros to SDG 4: “Quality education”
In addition, we continue to work with international partners to contribute to social development in Europe and beyond. This includes our work with the European Investment Fund, the Social Impact Agenda – GSG International, European Microfinance Network, European Venture Philanthropy Association, B4IG and the OECD.
Furthermore, we have a strong focus on supporting Youth and Education. In 2021, our financial education initiatives reached a total of 123,522 beneficiaries across our countries, including young people, students, vulnerable individuals, small enterprises, start-ups and social organisations. Meanwhile our financial and ESG awareness initiatives reached a further 206,111 beneficiaries, more than 203,000 of whom were women.
Our Social results also include a highlight on the activities of the UniCredit Foundation, which in 2021 supported 878,000 beneficiaries and 358 dedicated projects as well as providing 10 million euros in donations and funding 120 scholarships.
To find out more:
Social Results 2021 – Social Impact and UniCredit Foundation