Ecology

BBVA’s Turkish unit has just renewed its $415 million syndicated loan based on environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) criteria.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology has gone in this fourteenth edition to the ecologists Lenore Fahrig, Simon Levin and Steward Pickett for incorporating the spatial dimension into ecosystem research.The three award winners have made fundamental contributions both to the development of the theory and mathematics of spatial ecology, and to its application to the design of nature reserve areas, wildlife management plans, as well as road networks and sustainable cities, according to the jury.

Of 8,300 known animal species, 8% are extinct and 22% are endangered. These United Nations figures place the planet on the brink of what some scientists now call "the sixth mass extinction." The impact of human action on ecosystems is causing many species to disappear, with irreversible harm to biodiversity and the environment.

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The BBVA Foundation has recognized the work of Sandra Díaz, Sandra Lavorel, and Mark Westoby with the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Ecology and Conservation Biology category has gone in this thirteenth edition to ecologists. The three researchers linked plant ecosystem function to their physical characteristics, and described how these broad traits relate together at global level.

Garanti BBVA launches ‘Garanti Portföy Temiz Enerji Karma Fon’, an innovative fund that invests in capital market instruments tied to Turkish and international companies in the sector of clean, renewable and alternative energy technologies.

In many ways, the coronavirus crisis marks a turning point in human behavior. One of the lessons this pandemic is teaching us is the essential need to change the way we interact with nature. “We will open the door to new pandemics if we continue maintaining a toxic relationship with nature,” states the ecologist Pedro Jordano. For the secretary of the jury for the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge in Ecology and Conservation Biology, biodiversity “works like a shock absorber”. If it is altered, “it leads to all kinds of problems,” like the spread of COVID-19.

Gretchen Daily and Georgina Mace have been recognized with the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the category of Ecology and Conservation Biology for their visionary work combating the loss of species. They have developed tools that are invaluable for quantifying "nature’s value" thus facilitating science-based policies in support of the conservation of species. The jury panel commended not only their efforts in identifying the problem, but also their involvement in finding solutions.

BBVA today announced its strategy around climate change and sustainable development, Pledge 2025. The strategy will help the bank meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and is in line with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Pledge 2025 will help the bank align its activity to a 2ºC Scenario and strike a balance between sustainable energy and fossil fuel investments and is based on three lines of action: financing, management and engagement.

Rosemary and Peter Grant have devoted 40 years of their lives to studying the finches of the Galapagos Archipelago, the birds that inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution. The couple´s work has allowed them to prove that evolution can take place at a much faster pace than previously believed; in less than a decade, the beaks and bodies of these birds can transform to adapt to environmental changes.

Europe’s banks want an active role for the financial sector in the fight against climate change. They are asking Brussels to draw up an urgent plan based on the recommendations of the European Union’s High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance.

ShareAction, one of the most important observers of responsible investing, has published a study on the 15 biggest European banks, analyzing how we manage the risks and opportunities related to climate change. This study follows the guide for investors on discussing climate change with their bank that was published a few months ago.

The Conference on the United Nations Convention on Climate Change is currently taking place in Bonn, from Nov. 6-17. At a side event hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), BBVA was invited to share its approach to green finance.

Climate change is one of the greatest problems facing humanity. Abrupt temperature changes, famine, disease and floods are all evidence that changes in the climate are not a myth. The consequences could get worse if we do not manage to reduce the greenhouse effect, as Matthew Liao warns in his book The Next Step: Exponential Life. It can be downloaded at no charge  on BBVA’s website for the OpenMind project.

Due to the ever-growing demand for green products and services, eco-friendly companies are starting to pursue business opportunities in the Spanish economic landscape. These companies are committed to the generation of sustainable wealth and respect for the environment.

BBVA Data & Analytics, BBVA’s center of excellence in financial data analysis, has announced today that it is joining the “Data for Climate Action” challenge hosted by Global Pulse, a United Nations innovation initiative on big data.

Francisco González, Group Executive Chairman of BBVA, presented the book The Next Step: Exponential Life in an event held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,  This work collects the insights of twenty of the world’s most authoritative voices in a number of fields, analyzing the tremendous opportunities – and the risks and uncertainties – that the so-called “exponential technologies” will bring to humanity

How do ecosystems respond to human action? Is it possible to predict their behavior? Ecologists Gene E. Likens and Marten Scheffer, recent BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge award winners in the Ecology and Conservation Biology category, have produced work that tackles one of the main challenges this scientific discipline faces.

Gene Likens revealed the environmental impact of acid rain. Marten Scheffer has proven that human activity can bring irreversible damage to nature. Both have contributed decisively to understand how ecosystems respond to human-induced alterations of the natural environment, key to better protect our planet. The BBVA Foundation has recognized the work of these two ecologists with the Frontiers of Knowledge Award.

Francisco González, along with the Minister of Agriculture and Fishing, Food and the Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, presided the BVA Foundation Biodiversity Conservation Awards ceremony. The winners of the 11th edition of these awards were the Grupo para la Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona y su Hábitat (GREFA), and the NGO Conservation Land Trust, and the communications professional Carlos de Hita.

BBVA’s new corporate headquarters in Madrid have become an architectural and sustainability landmark. Architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have designed not only a smart but an environmentally and people friendly city, reflective of the financial group’s global digital transformation strategy.

Javier M. Flores, CEO of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, renewed the foundation's commitment with the Sustainable Development Goals Fund until 2019. During the session held at the headquarters of United Nations, the SDG Fund also presented the report “Universality and the SDGs: A Business Perspective”. This publication examines some of the key issues facing companies when incorporating and implementing the SDGs within their core strategy.

How did the sharing economy become a phenomenon? The initial idea - communities that share resources to improve services and limit the environmental impact of their actions - has evolved and reemerged in recent years thanks to the success of startups such as Uber, Airbnb or Taskrabbit. We asked some experts to help us understand why.

The Higgs boson made the Large Hadron Collider and CERN world famous. However, the European Organization for Nuclear Research also conducts many other experiments that are less well known. Two of them  – Neutron Time of Flight (n_TOF) and ISOLDE – are focused on nuclear physics and their findings could be used to treat cancer or produce safer and cleaner nuclear energy, for example.

The planet's survival is an issue over which, by definition, all interests converge. After wasting precius decades and, with some exceptions, renewable energy finally seems to be managing to get politicians, businesses and citizens to unite and fight for a common cause.

As a result of the integral transformation process kicked off in 2016, BBVA Bancomer established a scheme to implement a strategy based on the new concept of “Responsible Business” as the focal point of its social responsibility actions. The strategy is built on three cornerstones in first place, social actions aimed at fostering education and which are carried out through the BBVA Bancomer Foundation; the second, financial education; and third the promotion of entrepreneurship, primarily with a societal focus.

For almost a decade, the BBVA Bancomer Foundation has been supporting the filmmaking vision, dreams and talent of young university students through its Hazlo en Cortometraje (Do it in a Short Film) contest. This year’s contest, with over 1,113 submissions, has been a success. The works are produced by Mexican students - the contest only recently opened to participants from other countries – and focus on topics that basically aim to drive a change in attitude among society with respect to different issues.

The need, scope and nature of renewable energies are universal, but their development across different regions is uneven, and business opportunities in the sector are a battlefield where the interests of investors, engineers, ecologists, politicians and economists clash. Nobody seems to care what consumers – as both clients and citizens -  have to say, allowed only to witness the debate as confused and voiceless spectators.

Our planet’s health depends on the awareness and collaboration from every single person in it. It depends on the adoption of clean and renewable energies that replace finite and polluting sources. Political and climatological factors also have an impact, but technological development and the laws that support and drive their adoption are indispensable.

The planet’s survival is an issue over which, by definition, all interests converge. Finally, after wasting precious decades and, with some exceptions, renewable energies seem to be managing to get politicians, businesses and citizens to unite and fight for a common cause.

You may think you can’t afford to travel because of your limited budget.

But you may not be familiar with all the options that apps and the Internet offer, ranging from cost sharing to house swaps.