The new goals that have now been set by SEB’s Group Executive Committee include a number of milestones that compared with 2008 will result in a 66% reduction by 2025, a 75% reduction by 2030 and a 100% reduction by 2045.
“Our clear ambition regarding sustainability also highlights our own footprint. We have now decided on an ambitious, but fully achievable goal to reduce our emissions to almost zero by 2045 in line with the Paris Agreement,” says SEB’s Chief Sustainability Officer Hans Beyer.
SEB has a strong ambition to contribute to sustainable development and help customers in their transformation towards a better world. It is in this area that the bank can make a significant difference by factoring in economic, social and environmental aspects in all business decisions. But the climate impact of the bank’s own operations is also important.
SEB has therefore since 2008 measured carbon-dioxide emissions from its own operations in the form of energy consumption, use of paper, company cars and business travel. Compared with the initial year 2008, emissions up to 2019 decreased by 55%. Between 2015 and 2019, however, the reduction was marginal but is expected to be significant in 2020 due to a reduction in travel in the wake of the corona pandemic.
“A large part of the emissions we can measure today is related to air travel. So this is a natural place to start. Reducing the footprint of air travel does not necessarily mean that we fly less. For example, many airlines today offer flights with biofuel as a significant part of the fuel. In the future, we will make this a requirement when booking our travel. Travel routines obviously also play a part and the effects of the pandemic on our future travel will likely also contribute to reduced footprint,” says Hans Beyer.
Other key measures required to achieve the goals include ensuring that SEB’s electricity consumption is from renewable sources to an even greater extent as well as electrifying the bank’s entire company car fleet.
The new plan will be evaluated annually to review whether additional factors that affect the bank’s own climate footprint should be included, or if there are more effective ways to make better calculations going forward.