In attendance will be some 100 sustainability officers from leading companies in Spain.

Discussion topics include climate change, biodiversity, the road to net zero, sustainable lending and pro-nature finance. The conference will also take an in-depth look at new findings from the CDP 2023 questionnaires.

Madrid, 27 April 2023.
This Thursday, Banco Santander’s Corporate Centre will be the venue for one of the annual conferences of the CDP, an international not-for-profit specializing in environmental impact. Some 100 people are expected to attend, including sustainability officers from leading companies in Spain. 

Conference participants will be sharing best practices, environmental initiatives, solutions to new requirements and ways to reduce the private sector’s impact on the environment. Discussion topics include climate change, biodiversity, the road to net zero, sustainable lending and pro-nature finance. The conference will also review recent findings from the CDP’s questionnaires to assess companies on climate, water and forests.

Santander features on the CDP’s 2022 A List for climate change in light of the bank's commitment to sustainability and action against climate change. The CDP recognizes the bank's transparency and efforts to fight climate change around the world. Its questionnaire covers governance and climate change strategy, risk-reward management, goal setting and initiatives on biodiversity.

Santander continues to make progress on its targets in the fight against climate change and in support for the green transition. Grupo Santander aims to become net-zero in carbon emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement. It has set low emissions targets for 2030 for thermal coal, power generation, oil and gas, aviation, steel manufacturing and other carbon-intensive sectors that appear in its loan book. 

Santander will release interim targets to decarbonize other more carbon-intensive portfolios, in keeping with the The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative’s (UNEP FI) Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), of which it is a founder member.

Santander has been a leading creditor for renewable energy for more than 10 years. In 2022, it remained on of the top two banks in number and volume of transactions worldwide, with an installed capacity of 15.6 GW that saved 152 million tonnes of CO₂ from being released into the atmosphere.

Santander is also committed to reducing its direct impact on the environment through several efficiency measures. It aims for all the electricity it sources to be renewable by 2025. Since 2020, the bank's carbon footprint has been carbon neutral.