The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has named the Roca brothers ‘Food Heroes’ for their work promoting sustainable gastronomy. The Spanish chefs, together with BBVA, have collaborated in several sustainability projects encouraging responsible eating habits. Through the “Sembrando el futuro” (“Seeds for the future”) project, they seek to recover extinct ingredients and preserve biodiversity.

BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila will open the next EduFin Summit, the international financial education event hosted by BBVA's Center for Financial Education and Capability, which will take place on September 29 and 30. Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, will participate in the opening ceremony. The conference will be held for the first time in two countries: Spain and Mexico.

Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, President of the Government of Spain, and Carlos Torres Vila, BBVA Chair, will open the BBVA Sustainability Forum 2022, on September 15 (4:30pm CEST) at Ciudad BBVA, Madrid. Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, the Third Vice-President of Spain and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, will also take part in the meeting.

BBVA's Turkish franchise is one of the main drivers of renewable energy projects in the country.

As part of its initiatives to combat the climate crisis and work towards a sustainable world, Garanti BBVA has presented the first activity report of its ‘Blue Breath Project’ in alliance with the Deniz Temiz Association/TURMEPA. The 9-month undertaking has promoted awareness training on waste surface cleaning in the Marmara Sea as well as sea cleaning in the provinces of the region to prevent marine pollution.

Around four million people have potentially benefited from the social bond that BBVA issued in 2021, in a placement that amounted to 1 billion euros. Almost 50% of the amount was allocated to the access to essential services category (health, education and financial services), followed by socioeconomic advancement and empowerment (37%), affordable basic infrastructure (12%) and affordable housing (0.6%). Such is the conclusion of the 2021 Green and Social Bonds Report just published by the bank. The document details the environmental and social impact generated by the projects and loans that have been financed with the proceeds of the green and social bonds issued by BBVA, S.A. since 2018, amounting to a total of €5 billion, of which €3 billion were green bonds and €2 billion were social bonds.

BBVA financed almost €14.5 billion between April and June 2022, up 50% from the same period from the previous year. This is the quarter that has mobilized the largest amount. Moreover, since 2018, it has financed a total of almost €112 billion and thereby has exceeded half of its 2025 goal set at €200 billion.

The deal between Garanti BBVA and Masfen Enerji enhances opportunities for investors to finance new solar power plants and support Türkiye’s renewable energy output.

BBVA has implemented a comprehensive cloud-based solution that simplifies theprocess of sending and validating information, providing carbon footprint indicators andemission reduction tracking figures. It is a platform that will enable active, data-drivenmanagement of its sustainability policies.

BBVA’s Global Head of Sustainability, Javier Rodríguez Soler, has been appointed Chair of the Advisory Board of the bank’s Center for Financial Education and Capability. The center, now celebrating its fifth anniversary, supports financial education as a tool to contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth.

BBVA has created a new sustainable loan that focuses on reducing water footprint, a key priority in many companies' sustainability policies. Iberdrola, one of the world leaders in sustainability, is the first company to formalize this innovative solution in the sustainable financing market, which can be structured as a bilateral or syndicated loan.

A recent report by Deloitte and the European Banking Federation (EBF) explains the role of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) in a company, the qualities they should have and what the purpose and future of their work is. 

BBVA and US venture capital firm Fifth Wall, are joining forces to invest in technologies that address climate change in the real estate and construction industries, which make up 40% of the global total carbon dioxide emissions.Through Fifth Wall’s Climate Fund, BBVA will invest in companies seeking decarbonization solutions that address the entire lifecycle of buildings.

BBVA takes another step toward gender equality, setting a target for 35 percent of its management positions to be held by women by 2024. At the end of last year, this figure stood at 31.4 percent. This measure adds to a series of initiatives that are contributing to increasing the number of women in positions of responsibility.

BBVA has joined Carbonplace as a founding member. Through this technological solution, BBVA will offer its customers worldwide direct access to voluntary carbon credits to compensate for their emissions. BBVA is the first Spanish bank to partner with this platform which aims to become an integral component of the voluntary carbon market.

BBVA joins the global initiative the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Forum. BBVA is the first Spanish bank to join thisworking group, which already includes more than 400 entities, organizations orregulators around the world.

Grupo DEME, a marine engineering company with a global presence, signed a €20 million sustainable financing agreement with BBVA. The loan is part of an extensive financing package that will enable the Belgian group to finance further investments in its dredging and environmental activities. Based in Zwijndrecht (Belgium) with over 5,200 employees worldwide, the company is reinforcing its commitment to sustainability and the environment.

Garanti BBVA has funded Tosyalı Roof solar power plant project with a loan of 400 million Turkish lira. The deal demonstrates the bank's ongoing support for sustainable development.

Türkiye's Garanti BBVA is partnering with the DenizTemiz Association / TURMEPA in the joint Blue Breath project, in a bid to mitigate marine pollution. The initiative has recovered 30 tons of waste over a six-month period from the Sea of Marmara.

80 percent of BBVA personnel (87,000 employees) in all countries where the bank has a presence have received sustainability training, specifically on climate action and inclusive growth - two pillars of the bank’s sustainability strategy. They have spent an average of 3.5 hours per person in the training.

Garanti BBVA recently renewed its syndicated loan with international markets. The agreement was signed with 30 banks from 16 countries for $594 million, and consists of two separate tranches of $283.5 million and €290.5 million, respectively, and a one year maturity.

Garanti BBVA is supporting a WWF Turkey program that aims to protect nature by helping to fight forest fires. The WWF Fire Management Grant Program provides local civil society groups financial and technical support to implement the projects they develop related to forest fires.

Garanti BBVA recently completed its first derivative transaction linked to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria with Bank of America.

Garanti BBVA acted as main sponsor of Harvard Business Review Turkey's Sustainability Summit held last week, where business leaders and experts discussed various approaches to understanding, internalizing and focusing on sustainability.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has just published the Private Philanthropy for Development statistics detailing the contribution of the 40 largest foundations in the world. For the third consecutive year, the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF) is the second worldwide and the first in Latin America.

BBVA mobilized €10.81 billion in sustainable financing between January and March, 2022, up 26% from the previous quarter, making it a quarter record. In total, BBVA has mobilized €96.7 billion in sustainable financing between 2018 and 2022’s first quarter.