Spanish Banks Commit to Reduce Their Carbon Footprint

By Maitane Sardon

Spanish banks including Banco Santander SA (SAN.MC), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA.MC) and CaixaBank SA (CABK.MC) said Monday that they commit to reducing the carbon footprint of their credit portfolios, in line with the Paris Agreement.

During the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, the banks said they will develop tools to measure the environmental impact of their clients' activity and, within a certain time period, take steps to reduce the carbon footprint in their credit portfolios in a way that can be measured with internationally approved criteria.

Within a maximum of three years, the banks will establish and publish the specific objectives of the sector, based on scenarios for alignment of their portfolios with the Paris Agreement. They said they will initially focus on the most carbon intensive sectors within their portfolios.

The banks said they will make the measures they take publicly available and will report on their progress every year. The group will report on its collective progress every two years.

Other signatories include Bankia SA (BKIA.MC), ING Bank NV, Bankinter SA (BKT.MC) and BNP Paribas SA (BNP.FR).

Write to Maitane Sardon at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 10, 2019 05:44 ET (10:44 GMT)

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