Sustainability and finance: What are the Principles for Responsible Banking?
BBVA joined forces with 27 other banks and the United Nations to create the Principles for Responsible Banking. This landmark initiative seeks to address the sustainability challenges facing the global finance industry, and transform the sector into a driver of a sustainable future.
The finance sector plays a crucial role in improving sustainability and needs to strengthen its responsibility to ensure a sustainable future. With this in mind, the international community decided to take a stand against climate change.
In 2016, the United Nations launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), “a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.” In 2015 at the Paris Climate Conference, The European Commission invited 195 countries to join a global action plan to fight climate change.
And banks are also doing their part. The six Principles for Responsible Banking commit financial institutions to meet their objectives in a sustainable manner.
The Principles for Responsible Banking represent a collective effort to align the banking business with longer-term goals of addressing social and environmental challenges. On November 26th, at the United Nations Environmental Programme - Finance Initiative Global Round Table in Paris, the founding banks will present these principles that hope to mark a turning point for the industry. Following a global public consultation period, the principles will be signed in September 2019 at the UN headquarters in New York.