Taking action against climate change and promoting sustainable development is not a fight to save the planet; it’s a fight for the human race. Olivier Guersent, Director-General at the European Commission asserted himself emphatically at the “Financing Sustainable Growth” conference held on March 22nd in Brussels with influential figures such as Emmanuel Macron, Michael Bloomberg, and Jean-Claude Juncker.

One more year, BBVA will join Earth Hour: A campaign promoted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that has blossomed into a worldwide movement in the fight against climate change.

The BBVA Center for Financial Education and Capability has launched the first ‘Call for Expressions of Interest,' an initiative aimed at fostering academic research in financial education and inclusion. This first edition will focus on six areas that address different global issues from diverse perspectives.

BBVA allocated 103 million euros in 2017 to social initiatives on a global level. BBVA continued to reinforce the main pillars of action of its Community Investment Plan for the period 2016-2018: financial education, social entrepreneurship and knowledge. The graphic shows the main actions undertaken in these areas:

On 8 March, the European Commission -EC- released its Action Plan -AP- on Financing Sustainable Growth under the Capital Markets Union initiative. The AP significantly relies upon the Final Report of the High-Level Expert Group released on 31 January.

If the transition to sustainable finance is to be possible, society needs a committed business community that is aware of the environmental challenges, knows how to take advantage of the opportunities provided by green financial solutions and participates actively in the debate.  This was one of the main conclusions to emerge from the recent breakfast meeting "Sustainable Finance: solutions for a green economy", organized by Grupo Español para el Crecimiento Verde (the Spanish Green Growth Group) and BBVA, which took place in the Bank's headquarters.

BBVA Compass clients and Dallas community leaders gathered downtown Thursday night at Café Momentum, where the former juvenile offenders who power the restaurant prepared and served attendees a haute-cuisine meal and gave them a firsthand look at social entrepreneur Chad Houser’s ambitious venture to rehabilitate the youth and help them reenter society.

The European Commission has published its Action Plan to boost the contribution of the financial industry to the aim of achieving a more sustainable global economy. The Plan is in line with BBVA's 2025 Commitment, the Bank's strategy on climate change and sustainability, which involves the mobilization of €100 billion over the next eight years to promote the transition toward a low-carbon economy and the sustainable development.

BBVA has marked a new milestone in the sustainable finance business with the closing of the first global transaction in the insurance sector. MAPFRE has transformed its syndicated credit facility for 1 billion euros into sustainable finance with the cooperation of BBVA, which acted as Sustainable Agent in the transaction.

BBVA Compass and Opportunity Finance Network are putting out the call to dedicated leaders at community development financial institutions and inviting them to apply to the Opportunity Fellows Program, their joint initiative to boost the CDFI industry’s leadership ranks and spur greater access to capital in under-resourced communities.