The UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) from 31 October to 12 November will centre on the need to take action to reverse melting polar ice-caps, rising sea levels, more extreme temperatures, widespread poverty, the extinction of hundreds of plant and animal species and other phenomena. 

Climate change is one of humankind’s biggest challenges. We’re already seeing the devastation it has had on the planet, widening a social divide such that access to clean water and food is becoming a premium. According to the United Nations (UN), urgent and necessary climate change measures could prevent 250,000 deaths per year.

The COP26 will bring together private companies, public organizations, leaders and speakers (including Santander) to talk about the threat of climate change. Our executive chairman, Ana Botín, will once again take to the floor to stress the need for more sustainable economic measures. 

Our initiatives for a greener future

As a responsible bank, Santander continues to aid the transition to a green economy. We’ve made commitments to power all our buildings with electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and mobilize EUR 220 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2030. To help deliver the financial support needed to achieve an emission-free economy and meet the targets set out in the Paris Agreement, we became a founding member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, a United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEPFI), pledging to reach net-zero carbon emissions (NetZero) by 2050. We’ve already taken on decarbonization commitments for 2030, such as ending financial services to electricity generating customers if 10% of their revenues rely on thermal coal; and eliminating our exposure to coal mining worldwide, all by 2030.

Other global commitments include such local initiatives as financing for national parks in the the UK and our Motor Verde to replant three forests in Spain. In Brazil, we've joined forces with Bradesco and Itaú Unibanco for a pioneering project to promote sustainable development in the Amazon. 

“We all have to make specific commitments: states, businesses and other social players, and the population as a whole. Santander is already one of the world's largest green finance providers, and we are going to continue to take action to provide more support in the shift towards a sustainable and productive energy model” – said Ana Botín at the COP25 summit where we announced our goal of becoming carbon neutral by offsetting the emissions from our daily operations (which we achieved in 2020).