At the heart of our progress lies our commitment to collaboration. Delivering our long-term sustainability objectives requires strategic partnerships that extend well beyond our immediate operations, fostering alignment across our entire value chain. Our engagement spans across a wide range of stakeholders including clients, regulators, investors, industry peers, employees and the wider communities in which we operate.
In 2024, we sharpened our focus on building high-impact relationships that could drive genuine solutions to some of our most pressing environmental challenges. These efforts will accelerate in 2025, as we emphasise client-focused initiatives that enhance our provision of sustainable and transition finance.
Driving Partnerships and Innovation
A critical area of focus for the Bank is accelerating sustainable finance through strategic partnerships. We recognise the importance of multi-lateral development banks in mobilising capital for emerging markets, as their patient, purpose-driven investment, aligns with our commitment to financing real economic transformation. The publication of our Sustainable Finance Framework provides a robust plan/blueprint from which to expand these collaborations and drive sustainable finance forward.
We are also accelerating our innovative client solutions to better serve our customers. A notable example is the launch of a Carbon Credit Solutions Desk in Banco ABC Brasil, our Brazilian subsidiary. Thanks to this initiative, we teamed up with a specialist that develops and protects over two million hectares of the Amazon Rainforest by directing investment via carbon credits to fund sustainable forest development projects. This solution allows our Brazilian clients to purchase nature-based voluntary carbon credits, helping them complement the decarbonisation solutions already utilised across their value chain and neutralise residual emissions.
Collaborating Across Operations
Beyond financing, we also recognise the importance of reducing the environmental impact of our own operations and addressing the emissions throughout our supply chain. To advance this goal, we partnered with a specialist engineering consultant to conduct a comprehensive four-month review of our global operations. This assessment identified opportunities to reduce our energy consumption, water usage and GHG emissions. The findings have shaped the basis of our three-year plan, which was launched in early 2025 to drive meaningful reductions across our operations.
Equally important is tackling the GHG emissions within our supply chain, which generated 44% of our total Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG emissions in 2024 (excluding financed emissions). To this end, we are reviewing our supplier engagement strategy with the support of an external vendor management specialist. This initiative aims to provide better understanding of our supply chain, foster closer vendor engagement and reduce the environmental impact of our suppliers.
Embedding Sustainability into our Culture
True transformation requires more than strategy — it requires a cultural shift. Our long-term success hinges on embedding sustainability into the DNA of our organisation, ingraining it in our daily work through training, awareness programmes, and sustainability-focused initiatives. Fostering a culture of innovation where sustainable ideas and collaboration are encouraged will be key to developing impactful solutions.
While embedding sustainability into existing roles can be empowering, it comes with its own challenges. To address these, we have adopted a structured approach built on five key principles:
- Transparency of Actions: We strive to deploy clear, data-driven initiatives with measurable outcomes, ensuring progress is visible, verifiable, and continuous.
- Embedding Sustainability: Our initiatives are focused on embedding sustainability into existing workflows with clear objectives to optimise and not complicate daily workflows.
- Stakeholder Buy-in: We link sustainability initiatives to profitability, or risk mitigation, to align with our overall business objectives.
- Fostering Inclusion: Engaging with teams early on in the process to co-create solutions that deliver tangible benefits, be it cost savings, enhanced revenue, improved operational efficiency or job satisfaction.
- Scale Implementation: We take a phased approach, starting with pilot programmes to test feasibility and leveraging small-scale successes to build confidence and expand implementation.
