Sustainability - Our Strategy & Journey
Garanti BBVA started its transformative role against sustainable development and the climate crisis in 2005 with a vision that goes far beyond simply changing our business strategy.
In 2010, the Bank established its Sustainability Committee to make its work on sustainable development more strategic. In 2014, it has gathered all its work in this field under an integrative policy and strategy, in line with the approval of the Board of Directors. By focusing on combating climate change and inclusive growth, the Bank is working hard to achieve the country's sustainable development goals.
Garanti BBVA, is leading sustainable growth in the market with a business model that embraces the opportunities of sustainable development as well as climate change-related risk management. The Bank diversifies the financial instruments it offers for a low-carbon economy and inclusive growth and continue to cooperate with international financial institutions for cost-effective funding.
In early 2020, Garanti BBVA became the first bank in Türkiye to announce absolute emission reduction targets for its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, in line with the 1.5 degrees target under the Science Based Targets.
The Bank’s goals include providing solutions to the financial needs of micro-SMEs, SMEs, women entrepreneurs and all entrepreneurs who play a key role in the sustainable development of the economy, as well as supporting their growth and helping them improve their performance in the environment, society and ethics. Focusing on responsible and sustainable development, the Bank actively contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets.
For many years, Garanti BBVA, has been participating in local and international platforms, which allowed for widespread, high level engagement with the business community, governments, policymakers, and numerous national and international organizations. In this sense, the Bank is part of 45 working groups and actively participates in or chairs 30 sustainability-themed initiatives in total that include numerous platforms.
The BBVA Group, the Bank’s principal shareholder, doubled its sustainable financing target from EUR 100 billion it declared in 2018 to EUR 200 billion in 2021 in parallel with its climate change and sustainable development strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement. Being already ahead of its goals in 2022, the BBVA Group revised the 2025 goal for a second time, tripling the original amount to EUR 300 billion. This pledge is intended to contribute to the joint global combat against climate change, encourage inclusive growth where all segments are involved in the process, and share the benefit derived in line with the goal of bringing the age of opportunity to everyone.
Having stated that it would contribute increasing amounts of financing in parallel with the BBVA Group’s sustainable finance target initially and later pledged that it would allocate funds totaling TL 150 billion, Garanti BBVA updated its target to provide funding for financing sustainable activities between the years 2018 and 2025 for combating climate crisis and for sustainable development as TL 400 billion in 2023. In the 2018-2023 period, the total amount of resources allocated by the Bank to the financing of sustainable activities reached 120 billion TL.