Sustainability

BBVA's Head of Talent and Culture in Spain, Yolanda Martínez Bajo, and the CEO of Fundación ONCE, José Luis Martínez Donoso, have signed the ‘Inserta Empleo’ agreement to promote employment for people with disabilities.

The bank published its latest ‘Green and Social Bond Report’ on fund allocation and the impact of its sustainable issuances through December 2024. BBVA allocated a total of €5.83 billion to environmental, social and governance (ESG) bonds through green initiatives, and €1 billion to projects with a social focus. This year, the amount of resources allocated to activities aligned with environmental criteria rose by 20 percent over the previous year.

Many European banks already have practices in place to detect, monitor, and manage climate risks, the second biggest concern for businesses. Frank Elderson, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, acknowledges the progress made but also admits that there is still a lot to do.

BBVA's sustainable business continues to accelerate its growth. The bank has channeled approximately €63 billion into sustainable business during the first half of 2025, representing a 48% increase compared to the same period last year. At the same time, more than €30 billion was channeled in the second quarter, a new quarterly record.

Climate technologies are innovative solutions that aim to combat climate change by slashing emissions and capturing carbon from the atmosphere. According to experts, this industry could generate €600 billion in annual revenue by 2030.

Ami Vitale is an American photographer and filmmaker, and a National Geographic ambassador.She captures hopeful, inspiring stories about nature—and our connection to it. With multiple awards and a global following of over one million on Instagram, she is a leading voice in visual storytelling for sustainability.

Clean technologies, also known as 'cleantech', are technologies that contribute to sustainability and environmental protection. This includes innovative solutions for  both climate change adaptation and mitigation, ranging from emission reduction to biodiversity protection and water treatment.

BBVA’s Turkish franchise provides financing for Uludağ Elektrik Dağıtım A.Ş.’s electricity distribution investments across Bursa, Balıkesir, Çanakkale, and Yalova, contributing to regional energy resilience and sustainable development.

Carbon capture is one of the most promising cleantech solutions for the fight against climate change. Companies like Heirloom are revolutionizing this sector with technologies capable of extracting up to 320,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the air every year.

Cover photo: EFE

Garanti BBVA has become the first Turkish financial institution to adopt the Equator Principles, a globally recognized risk management framework used by over 130 financial institutions to assess and manage environmental and social risks in project finance.

BBVA has acted as Agent Bank and Co-Coordinator in a new €2.5 billion syndicated credit facility signed this morning by Iberdrola with a total of 32 international financial institutions. The bank also served as Sustainability Coordinator. The transaction was oversubscribed by 45%, underscoring the strong support from the banking sector for the energy group's strategy.

‘Aprendemos juntos Kids’ launches its third season by taking the leap into animation. BBVA’s educational series explores the world of childhood emotions through stories to help children grow with a positive, curious and brave take on life.

Responsible for 10 percent of global CO2 emissions, the fashion industry aims to reinvent itself with circular economic models. SYRE, a company in the H&M Group, is spearheading the change with a large-scale textile recycling system based on  cleantech to reduce waste and decarbonize polyester production.

In 2024, BBVA channeled €27 billion to boost the sustainable business and fund development projects in its emerging markets (Mexico, South America and Turkey), which represents a 60 percent increase over 2023. Meanwhile, the BBVA Microfinance Foundation allocated €1.5 billion in lending to vulnerable entrepreneurs in 2024.

Within the framework of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), held from June 30 to July 3 in Seville, the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (FMBBVA) is strengthening its position as a benchmark in development financing from the private sector. Of special note is its commitment to technological innovation to promote the progress of vulnerable entrepreneurs. 

“Green hydrogen is a great opportunity to enhance the competitiveness of Spanish companies,” stated the Global Head of Sustainability Strategy, Industries and Cross-Border Business & CIB at BBVA, Roberto Albaladejo. Speaking at an event on green hydrogen held at Ciudad BBVA in conjunction with Hy24, Albaladejo added that Spain “is in an ideal position, with abundant renewable energy, robust industrial clusters and a clear public commitment” to scale up clean technologies like hydrogen.

The transaction, a $200 million trade loan facility, is 95% backed by the multilateral agency MIGA, part of the World Bank Group. This financing, which supports the transition towards more sustainable and resilient economic models in the country, reflects BBVA CIB’s ability to execute complex cross-border transactions and address client needs in core geographies such as Brazil. At the same time, the deal, executed in a key market such as the United Kingdom, reaffirms the strategic importance of the institutional segment, in close collaboration with the public sector.

Jamil Zaki earned his degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from Boston University, obtained a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard Center for Brain Science. He is currently a professor of Psychology and director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab, where he has become an international authority on empathy, which he describes not as an innate trait but as one that can be trained through practices ranging from meditation to compassionate attention to others.

The steel sector is responsible for seven percent of global CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. Thanks to cleantech companies like H2 Green Steel they are making headway in more sustainable production, reducing emissions by up to 95 percent in key processes.

Photo: Midjourney (AI)

The agreement contributes to the development of climate technologies, or cleantech, in a first-of-a-kind project to support European energy resilience, helping stabilize the power grid and promoting decarbonization in the energy industry.

BBVA Global Head of Sustainability and Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) Javier Rodríguez Soler affirmed that “BBVA is the 4th largest bank financing data centers in the U.S.,” based on data from January 1 through May 29, 2025*. During an event organized by the Spain–U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Houston, Rodríguez Soler said that “the U.S. will continue to be a strategic growth market for BBVA.”

Photo credit: Spain–U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Scaling up ‘cleantech’ (also known as clean technologies) means expanding innovative projects, those that aim to decarbonize the economy, so they can grow and adapt to market demand. To do so, adequate financing is fundamental in order to produce and distribute this technology at a greater scale and lower cost, boosting competitiveness and the reindustrialization process. According to Cleantech for Europe, banks remain, by far, “the largest financial institutions in Europe” contributing to this effort.

Garanti BBVA has contributed over $440 million in support to the Turkish economy by renewing its existing syndicated loan.

By getting involved, BBVA will help identify barriers, share best practices, and co-create financial instruments that accelerate improvements in energy efficiency and the decarbonization of the European building stock and industry.

Front cover photo: © European Union, 2025. Source: EC – Audiovisual Service.(CC BY 4.0)

Historian Josephine Quinn is the first woman to lead the Ancient History department at the University of Cambridge. She is also an honorary member of Wadham College and an emeritus fellow at Worcester College, both at the University of Oxford. Quinn is a well-known expert on the ancient Mediterranean, and her work questions many traditional ideas about identity, culture, and civilization.

The cleantech ecosystem is advancing at different rates. While technologies such as solar and wind power are already consolidated, innovations such as carbon capture and green hydrogen still have a long way to go. Reaching the maturity of these solutions is key to  sustainability and requires strategic investment to accelerate global decarbonization.

In the first quarter of 2025, BBVA channeled approximately €29 billion into sustainable business initiatives, marking a 55 percent increase on the same period in 2024. This figure is part of the bank’s new target of channeling €700 billion into the sustainable business between 2025 and 2029, more than  double its previous target and also raising the bar, given the shorter timeframe involved (five years versus eight).

As climate change bites, a host of firms have started to develop ‘cleantech’ to cut emissions and help people cope with its effects. Decarbonizing the economy and fostering innovation are fast becoming sources of growth and new industry.  With a focus on sustainability and shifting to greener energy, BBVA invests in such ventures, supports firms with tailored finance, and offers advice through specialist funds.

BBVA has successfully renewed the Tier IV Gold certification for its Data Processing Center (DPC) in Tres Cantos (Madrid), the highest recognition awarded by the Uptime Institute for the management and running of these cutting-edge technology complexes. This achievement has been made possible thanks to the implementation of more than 30 energy-saving measures in recent years.

The collaboration among banks, investors, innovators, and the public sector will be, as Santiago Muguruza, global head of BBVA Spark, stated, "decisive for scaling up technological projects essential for the energy transition."  During his speech at the Energy Tech Summit 2025 held in Bilbao, he further emphasized that this type of cooperation "is key to closing the innovation gap in Europe."