At the event, SEB’s President and CEO Johan Torgeby shared the bank’s progress related to its sustainability metrics and redirecting its resources toward sustainable initiatives.
Held for the fourth year in a row, this annual gathering hosted by SEB is where the bank shares its achievements, ambitions, and challenges in the climate sector while providing a platform for collaboration and knowledge-sharing between industry leaders, researchers, and sustainability experts.
Progress in sustainability-related financing
SEB strives to reach a net-zero credit portfolio by 2050 at the latest and measures progress with two proprietary metrics: the carbon exposure index (The Brown) and the sustainability activity index (The Green). The bank has also set net-zero 2030 targets for seven sectors in our credit portfolio: Oil and Gas, Power generation, Steel, Car manufacturing, Swedish household mortgages, Heavy vehicle manufacturing and Shipping.
Regarding the bank’s carbon exposure index (The Brown) — the goal was to reduce fossil fuel credit exposure in the energy portfolio by 45-60 per cent by 2030. By Q3 2024, the figure was 54 per cent compared to the base year of 2019.
The sustainability activity index (The Green) measures volumes of four areas: sustainability-related financing, sustainable finance advisory, green-tech venture capital investments and sustainable savings and investment products.
The advisory and greentech venture capital areas are almost on track, with advisory up by 84 per cent compared to 2021 and greentech up by 323 per cent to SEK 289m compared to the baseline in 2021.
“The other two areas haven’t performed as well as we hoped, and there is a strong cyclical explanation to this”, Johan Torgeby said, referring to inflation and recession, leading to lower savings and investments.
Seven sectors cover 78 per cent of financed emissions
The seven sectors in SEB’s credit portfolio cover 78 per cent of SEB’s financed emissions. Oil and gas, shipping, power generation and car manufacturing are sectors have performed well, with for example Oil and gas declining 64 per cent and Power generation 35 per cent between 2020 and 2023. In total, financed emissions have been reduced by 48 per cent since 2020.
Two areas that have not developed positively are Swedish household mortgages and steel, but there is hope to meet these challenges, Johan Torgeby concluded:
“There are a lot of interesting initiatives in trying to reduce the footprint and things will start to change during the coming years.”
At the event, several renowned experts and key industry players also shared their perspectives on the sustainability transition.