Akbank continues supporting the transition to sustainable economy with TL 200 billion pledge.
“Embracing sustainability as a core part of our business strategy”
Highlighting that Akbank has embraced sustainability as part of its business strategy, CEO Hakan Binbaşgil stated, “For years, as Turkey developed and the needs of our society, environment and stakeholders changed, we have updated our business strategy and our sustainability vision accordingly. We have now established a strong framework to further integrate sustainability across all our business practices. In establishing this framework, we have worked with all business units of our bank, our customers, our employees, our investors, and a wide range of stakeholders, as we have done so in the past.”
"We would like to leave a more habitable world to future generations"
“We have identified four different areas of priority in our sustainability activities. We have set long-term goals in sustainable finance, people and community, ecosystem management and climate change. With our effective and focused work in these areas, we would like to leave a more habitable world to future generations.”
“We are among the pioneering banks in the sector in setting concrete sustainability targets"
“Within the banking ecosystem, we will increase our access to resources that will contribute to building a more sustainable world, as well as building structures, designing products and services to direct these resources to the right places. To help create a more sustainable economy, we will provide financing to companies in their transition journeys. As the first depository bank in Turkey to declare long-term sustainable finance commitments, we will provide TL 200 billion of sustainable loan financing to our country by 2030. In line with this, we aim to increase the sustainability-linked funding secured by the bank by 2030. Moreover, we commit to increase the sustainable investment funds to TL 15 billion AuM by 2030.”
“We will increase the number of financially empowered people”
“We have made financial inclusion a part of our business model with the products and services offered to those with limited access to financial resources. Thanks to our innovative vision, we are going beyond traditional banking services. In an increasingly digitalised world, we are developing fast and effective solutions for our stakeholders’ existing or potential needs. As well as being a key approach in targetting the perfect banking experience to our customers, digital banking is also an important tool for us in contributing to financial inclusion. In this context, we will enhance and extend digital and innovative products and services offered to our customers. We will increase the number of people we have financially empowered by 2030.”
"We will become a carbon-neutral bank by 2025"
“We recognise the need to address climate change as a serious problem. Working to leave a more habitable world to future generations should be the priority in sustainability efforts of all companies. In this context, we are working towards eliminating operational emissions by 2025. We took our first important step in this matter by cooperating with Enerjisa Energy. In 2021, we will meet 20% of all branches and ATMs’ energy needs via wind power.”
"The banking sector has an important responsibility in environmental and social issues"
“The major impact of the financial sector on environmental issues is related to financing activities. In this regard, our industry has an important responsibility. Accordingly, we have develop environmental and social credit policies by taking sustainability principles into account for our lending processes. In this context, we will reduce the impact of our loan portfolio on climate change by 2030. In addition, we continue our efforts to mitigate climate-related risks and impact on our loan portfolio. Moreover, In line with global developments, we review our related policies every year. With our Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) program, we subject the loans we allocate to our customers in our Corporate and Commercial Banking segments to a detailed environmental and social risk assessment. In addition, we positively differentiate ourselves in our sector with the environmental and social risk assessment we conduct for all our SME customers. Considering the significant share of SMEs in our economy, risk assessments developed specifically for this segment are of great importance for the transition to a more sustainable economy.”
“Creating Turkey’s future is a responsibility beyond banking”
“With our full belief in the future of Turkey, we have focused on sustainable value creation for our country. Thorugh our long-term and sustainable projects, we remain committed to this issue. We do our best to include our employees; our most important source in becoming a sustainable organization, in all our sustainability efforts. In line with our environmental and societal responsibility, which are at the heart of our culture, we work to create value for our communities. Believing that creating Turkey’s future is a responsibility beyond banking, we carry out important projects in education, entrepreneurship and arts and culture. Moreover, under the leadership of Akbank Volunteers, we support creating solutions for social problems as well as developing projects for the future of our country. We carry out all our investments and efforts for the future of our country and the future generations, with a long-term future. Our sustainability commitments also reflect this vision.”