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| Financing Sustainable Development |
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The aspiration is to consolidate the Banco Espírito Santo Group as a reference in investment projects promoting the improvement of environmental and living conditions in the communities were it develops its operations, through the offer of innovating products and services.
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Banco Espírito Santo Group is the first Portuguese financial group to adopt the Equator Principles.
The Equator Principles are a set of guidelines voluntarily followed by financial institutions to manage social and environmental issues arising from project finance operations with a capital cost of $7 million or more.
As in previous years, among the main features of 2012 were the projects financed for renewable energies namely the financing of the construction of a hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 750 MW installed and located in Mexico. Besides this, the Bank participated in the financing of a project to plant and run a forest of pine trees and the concession of the sanitation infrastructure for a company in the water sector, both in Brazil.
The Group’s move in renewable energies is reflected in an exposure of around 20% of its total Project Finance portfolio, implying a commitment of over 1 054 million Euros.
In 2012 the Bank started analysing the environmental and social risks of all projects financed by way of Project Finance, worth under 7 million USD, thereby adopting a better practice in the financial sector in this regard.
Recognising Portugal`s potential and aligning its activity to the objectives of the European Community viewing the construction of an energy model more sustainable and less dependent on fossil fuels, in 2008 BES Group was the world’s 5th largest financer of investment projects in renewable energies.
Within the scope of its Project Finance Activity, BES Group has taken part in numerous operations of financing wind farms, hydropower plants as well as power plants using forest biomass and solar energy.
Recognition of these activities has taken the form of numerous prizes and awards, namely the “Deal of the Year 2007” award for the financing of the renewable energies project of Babcock & Brown Wind Partners, a major project involving more than 1600MW in wind park assets in three continents, five continents and nine wind regions.
At national level the Group has developed a number of initiatives as well as products and services to promote the use of renewable energies by both individuals and companies:
- BES Environment&Energy Solution – this solution is intended for companies aiming to invest in projects in the areas of the renewable energies, energy efficiency and environmental conservation. It consists of an integrated offer that combines financing and insurance products with environmental and energy advisory services, and targets a need identified in the business community, for which the existing offer in the Portuguese financial sector is scarce. Click here to learn more.
- Renewable Energy Credit – credit solution allowing individual clients to purchase equipment for use with renewable energies. This is a turn-key solution that covers the entire process, from the phase of consultation, to the licensing process, the financing process and the installation of the equipment (microproduction of sun-heated water).
The BES Group sells and manages responsible investment funds, which it makes available to private and institutional investors, who include the allocation of capital to funds of this nature as part of their investment strategy.
The BES Group sells responsible investment funds through Banco Best, and these are diversified both in terms of geography and investment strategy. In 2012, 165 responsible investment funds were made available, with a subscription of around 13 million Euros in investment by clients of Banco Best, which is 26% higher than the previous year.
Besides these, the Group has two funds under management, the European Responsible Consumer Fund and the Espírito Santo Infrastructure Fund (ESIF), with a dimension of 3.1 and 95.7 million Euros, respectively.
Click here to consult Ethical Funds.
In line with its environmental policy, Banco Espírito Santo was the first Portuguese private bank to endorse the United Nations Environmental Programme Financial Initiative – UNEP-FI.
This endorsement implies the signature of the “UNEP Statement by Financial Institutions on the Environment & Sustainable Development”, which commits the signatory financial companies to develop sustainable initiatives, products or services.
The UNEP FI resulted from a global partnership between the United Nations and the financial sector, which already involves more than 170 financial institutions. UNEP FI carries out its mission to identify, promote, and divulge the adoption of best environmental and sustainability practice at all levels of financial institution operations.
BES’ endorsement of this programme not only proves that the two entities share the same vision regarding the importance of the role played by the financial sector towards sustainable development, but also significantly reinforced the international visibility of the Bank’s sustainability strategy.
Banking & Environment Programme
BES and CGD became the only two Portuguese signatories of the UNEP-FI, an initiative solely dedicated to promote sustainability within the financial sector.
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