Türk Eximbank believes that sustainable exports is of the utmost importance in the rapidly changing world that is confronted with numerous issues from climate change to socioeconomic inequality. In this direction, the Bank takes into account all financial and non-financial risks that are economic and ESG-related while carrying out its activities.
Within this framework, the Bank launched the “Sustainability, Environmental and Social Risk Management” Project to carry out all of its activities in line with sustainability principles and to shape its governance structure on the center of these principles. In the same direction, the Sustainability Principles, Environmental and Social Impact Policy, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Policy were approved by the Board of Directors.
To this end, steps are being taken to assess the environmental and social risks of the Bank’s lending and insurance activities and to guarantee that the same are effectively managed in line with the Bank’s strategy.
Believing that sustainability is a factor that does not merely affect the world’s future but also drives the development of organizations, necessary steps have been taken for monitoring and reducing carbon emissions that are of great importance in terms of Climate Change Adaptation. ISO 14064:2018 GHG Emissions Verification certification has been obtained for 2021 operations. Based on 2021 data, carbon emissions resulting from our lending operations were also calculated in addition to our direct emissions from our operations. Türk Eximbank has become the first bank to calculate its carbon and GHG emissions resulting from operating and investment loans, leading the sector in this sense. Our related project for “Establishing the Methodology and Calculating the Bank’s Operational Impact and Carbon Emissions of its Borrower Exporters” was granted the Best Innovation in Sustainable Financial Products and Services award at the Global Sustainable Finance Conference organized by the European Organisation for Sustainable Development (EOSD) and an award in the Best Planning and Project category at the International Environmental Communication Summit.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
An agreement has been reached for procuring the Bank’s electrical energy from renewables in 2022 and 1,000 MWh I-REC has been purchased.
On another front, the Bank’s first Sustainability Report addressing 2021 operations was released on 28 July 2022, the World Nature Conservation Day. In addition, a Sustainability Bulletin is being prepared to familiarize the Bank employees with global and local developments in relation to sustainability and to make sure that sustainability notion is embraced by all employees. The Bank regularly participates in the Banks Association of Türkiye Working Group meetings, and sustainability-related webinars of various organizations (ERTA, Integrated Reporting, UNEP etc.) to keep abreast of the latest developments, and the senior management is kept informed.
