Sustainability

‘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."

BBVA CIB and the company Basque Hydrogen have signed the first project finance loan on the Iberian Peninsula to finance an electrolytic hydrogen plant to produce synthetic fuels (e-fuels) in the Bilbao port. BBVA made the announcement during the largest European conference on innovation and financing for the energy transition, the Energy Tech Summit, which starts on Wednesday in Bilbao. The event will bring together over 1,500 experts from the cleantech ecosystem.

BBVA is the main sponsor of a new edition of what is the largest European conference on innovation and financing for the energy transition, which will run from April 9 to 10 at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao. This year’s event will notably feature a debate on the key resources needed to achieve a more sustainable energy model.

BBVA and Técnicas Reunidas have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the aim of promoting the development of initiatives and projects linked to the energy transition and the decarbonization of the economy.

For the third year running, BBVA has been busy promoting training in sustainability for 466 of its SME suppliers in 13 countries where it operates, showing an 11 percent improvement on the 2024 figure (418 companies). In total, 593 people will take part in the Sustainable Suppliers Training Program of the UN Global Compact (up 7 percent on the 552 in 2024).

BBVA CEO Onur Genç believes that decarbonization requires ‘massive’ capital investments. “Europe needs large banks to finance clean technologies, or ‘cleantech’, on a greater scale,” he said at an event held at the bank’s headquarters in Madrid.

The financial institution is developing an internal manual to give visibility to the reality of the people on the autism spectrum in the workplace and society. The goal is to make all professionals at the bank aware of this neurodivergence and promote a working environment that facilitates the integration of this group, makes the most of their strengths and understands the barriers they face.

For the fifth consecutive year, the bank will donate €300,000 to social organisations operating in the social and environmental spheres at its Annual General Meeting. The winning entities for 2025 are the Asociación Madrileña Para Ayuda del Recluso Abandonado, the Asindown Foundation, the Francisco Luzón Foundation, and the Scout Griebal Foundation.

Cleantech is key to moving toward sustainability, although to continue growing it must overcome certain challenges, notably the €50 billion investment gap that currently exists in Europe until 2030, according to Cleantech for Europe. Public-private partnerships and the development of innovative solutions are essential to unlock its potential and ensure wider access to clean technologies.

‘Is our last chance?’ features eight documentaries that aim to draw attention to the urgent environmental and social impacts of climate change. From rising sea levels and increasing droughts to ecological devastation, the documentaries emphasize the pivotal role water plays in ecosystems, economies, and communities, and call for sustainable management of this vital resource. The screenings will take place at Salt Beyoğlu's Open Cinema from March 19 to April 19, 2025.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) have become a solution to prevent surpluses from being lost and to cover the intermittence of renewable energy. “We need energy storage solutions to make them permanent,” says researcher and electric battery expert Philippe Knauth in an interview for bbva.com. He also points out that the democratization of energy depends on “the combination of renewable energies and energy storage.”