Principles for Responsible Banking: Our progress and targets
Monday 10 July 2023
Last week, UniCredit published its 2022 PRB Report, communicating our progress on the implementation of these principles. In the Report we have defined ESG targets to be reached by 2024 in terms of: environmental lending, social lending, and the origination of ESG investment products and sustainable bonds.
In 2019, UniCredit Group took part in the launch of the Principles for Responsible Banking, established by the UNEP Finance Initiative (“UNEP FI”), representing the sustainable banking framework meant to align portfolio banking strategies with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
We have long been committed to holding ourselves to the highest possible standards in order to do the right thing both for our clients and society – embedding Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles into everything we do and ensuring a just and fair transition.
Within the framework of our UniCredit Unlocked plan, we have now published our 2022 UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking Report, in which we have defined ESG targets to be reached by 2024 in terms of: environmental lending, social lending, and the origination of ESG investment products and sustainable bonds.
In particular, we have defined the following climate mitigation targets for 2030:
A 29% reduction in Scope 3 Category 11 CO2 emissions financed in the oil & gas sector.
A c. 47% reduction in Scope 1 emissions intensity financed in the power generation sector.
A c. 41% reduction in Scope 3 Category 11 emissions intensity financed in the automotive sector.
As a signatory bank of the PRB Commitment on Financial Health and Inclusion, we have also set the following new targets for 2025 related to the group of clients we have identified as the most relevant strategic target, namely young people (meaning people aged 17 to 30):
To increase the percentage of young clients with two or more active UniCredit financial products (from different categories) to 14.9% (from a baseline of 14.6%).
To increase the percentage of new UniCredit clients that are young people to 37.6% (from a baseline of 34.9%).
“Our publication of this report is a demonstration of our commitment to leading by example and embedding ESG in everything we do for a just and fair transition,” commented Fiona Melrose, Head of Group Strategy & ESG. “We have worked to define targets that will drive meaningful results for our climate and communities and will be relentless in pursuing them while continually expanding and refining our approach.”
Our efforts so far in this regard have already driven significant results.
Having set the target of issuing €150bn in cumulative ESG-related volumes between 2022 and 2024, over the course of last year, we delivered ahead of schedule by:
Committing €11.4bn in energy-efficiency and ESG-linked lending in FY22;
Directing €28.7bn AuM stock conversion towards ESG investments;
Originating €12.8bn in sustainable bonds;
Disbursing €4.8bn in social lending for high-impact and disadvantaged areas in 2022.
Moving forward, we will continue to work towards achieving our targets, with a focus on the highest-impact sectors, climate change mitigation and financial health & inclusion. Our Net Zero path will now add new industry sectors and begin defining relevant targets for those, and we will establish ongoing monitoring to ensure all targets are met. This is in accordance with our Natural Capital Framework, which includes also Biodiversity and Circular Economy commitments.
>> You can read more about the bank’s targets and the thinking behind each in the full 2022 UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking report.