Sustainability is an important and integral part of our ambition to create value for customers, shareholders, employees and society at large.
We recognise that a prerequisite for a prosperous and sustainable society is an awareness and understanding of sustainability challenges and a willingness and ability to act. As a bank we are a central part in allocating society's financial resources, financing the transition to a sustainable society. We define our material impact within these areas:
We are aware of our responsibility to contribute to sustainable development and are addressing environmental aspects in financing and investments as well as in managing our direct impact. We believe that this is also good business practice for our company and our business partners. Environmental responsibility concerns the impact that we or our business partners have on living and non-living natural systems, including ecosystems, land, air and water. This responsibility includes monitoring of environmental input (such as material, energy, water) and output (such as emissions, effluents, waste) as well as performance related to biodiversity, environmental compliance, environmental expenditure and the impact of products and services. We expect our clients and portfolio companies to manage natural resources responsibly.
The terms “nature” and “biodiversity” are often used interchangeably but have distinct definitions. Nature encompasses the entire physical world, landscapes, and ecosystems. It represents the broader environment in which life exists.
We have committed to the Paris Agreement by the signing of the UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking, and one of the founding signatories of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative.
We have a responsibility and works actively to reduce our own environmental footprint. Since 2008 we have been measuring our carbon emissions from energy consumption, use of paper, company cars and business travel.
Our commitment to creating social impact is linked to our ability to leverage our current expertise, assets, financial products and services to enable people and communities to prosper and grow. We are convinced that inclusion and diversity are crucial for our prosperity, innovativeness and growth. Put simply, a broad variety of ideas, skills and experiences among our employees will serve to increase our creativity, problem solving-skills and our understanding of customer needs.
We strive to identify and assess areas within human rights, labour rights and social relations where we can potentially have negative impact through our business relations.
We engage in society and take an active part in positively shaping the future. We drive and encourage initiatives for sustainable entrepreneurship and promote financial inclusion.
Through our sponsorships and community investments we want to support people with an entrepreneurial mindset and help their ideas grow.
Clear and effective structures for responsibility distribution ensure that SEB's sustainability efforts address relevant issues and that they are implemented across the entire company. Strong ethics, effective governance and adequate reporting support our sustainability work. Our approach to corporate governance is based on a set of values and behaviours that underpin our activities, and are designed to promote transparency, fair dealing and the protection of stakeholder interests. We see this as fundamental to the sustainability of our business and our performance.
We counteract all forms of corruption, in line with rules and regulations. These include external as well as internal incidents, processes and behaviours related to corruption.
SEB operates in over 20 countries, where tax rules and regulations are not fully harmonised across borders. We work strategically and long-term on securing compliance within applicable tax laws and regulations.
Remuneration is part of the total offering that enhances SEB's attractiveness as an employer. The overall ambition is to promote long-term commitment to creating sustainable value for customers and shareholders.
SEB's sustainability experts have extensive knowledge in areas such as climate and financing solutions, sustainable investments and regulatory development in the European Union.