Seray İmer (Garanti BBVA): “A bank’s transformative power comes from the funding it provides”
Seray İmer, Head of Sustainability at Garanti BBVA, recently took part in a ‘Sustainable Future’ show on Bloomberg HT TV, where she outlined Garanti BBVA’s key commitments and targets for a less polluted world.
According to the United Nations, a global investment of around $5–7 trillion will be needed every year to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Moreover, a recent study conducted by the World Bank for Türkiye revealed that a total investment of $165 billion will be needed by 2040 if the country is to achieve its net-zero target. These figures illustrate the massive investments required for sustainable transformation.
The financial sector is leading this challenge and as part of its contribution to a greener future, BBVA aims to channel €300 billion in sustainable financing worldwide between 2018 and 2025. Specifically, the bank in Türkiye aims to mobilize 400 billion Turkish lira over the same period and is already halfway there. “A bank’s transformative power comes from the funding it provides. Knowing where not to channel this financing is just as important as knowing what to target,” she said to Bloomberg HT.
She recalled that BBVA stopped financing new coal mines and new thermal power plants in 2021 and was among the first banks to make such a decision. Given that roughly 85 percent of Türkiye’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from energy production, this is a very serious matter.
According to Seray İmer, the bank addresses both the environmental and social sides of sustainability, getting involved in Türkiye’s ‘Blue Breath Project’ and ‘Türkiye's Life: Fire Management Grant Program'. In 2021, the Sea of Marmara faced a major mucilage problem and Garanti BBVA teamed up with DenizTemiz Derneği/TURMEPA in a bid to combat marine pollution. “So far, we have collected some 220,000 tons of solid and liquid waste and trained approximately 77,000 students across eight provinces,” she added.
Furthermore, through the 'Türkiye's Life: Fire Management Grant Program', which was launched alongside WWF-Türkiye, Garanti BBVA also supports NGOs in carrying out local projects to reduce the risk of forest fires, which cause untold harm to nature and people, and to be better prepared for any fires that may break out. To date, seven projects have been launched under the program, she concluded.