Planet

‘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.

The aviation industry consumes 380 billion liters of fuel every year, or three percent of global  CO2 emissions. Sustainable aviation fuels  (SAF) are the most advanced cleantech alternative to decarbonize this industry, with innovations such as those of the startup Twelve, which have managed to reduce emissions by up to 90 percent compared to traditional fuels.

From November 11 to 22, Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and host of COP29, will be in the spotlight. This Climate Summit, dubbed the "Finance COP," will focus on climate finance—specifically, how to assist developing countries in meeting their goals and protecting the global economy.

The Garanti BBVA-sponsored fire prevention partnership dubbed ‘Türkiye's Life: Fire Management Grant Program’ and headed by WWF Türkiye has successfully completed three new projects. One initiative, managed by Natura, focused on protecting caracal populations; another developed an eco-kit to leverage local knowledge and practices for preventing and fighting forest fires in the Köyceğiz-Gökova area; while the third project implemented fire-resilient production models.

The natural world possesses deep value that economic systems have been shunning for centuries. However, understanding and harnessing this natural capital is key to finding solutions to climate change. New Zealand is a prime example of how countries can integrate this concept within their business community and public institutions. In BBVA’s monographic study titled ‘Natural capital, curbing climate change’, you can learn more about the benefits and rewards of using natural capital as a means of improving social well-being.

The new Salt exhibition, ‘Hava Dair’ (About the Air)  aims to give life to the social and environmental aspects of air pollution through a series of different experiments. The exhibition, which is sponsored by Garanti BBVA, was designed by the Milan-based design studio 2050+ for Salt's Beyoğlu location. It can be visited free of charge until August 18th.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Humanities and Social Sciences category goes to American psychologist Elke Weber in recognition of her research into “environmental decision-making and human responses to climate change.” Weber was the first psychologist to join the IPCC, a group of experts to which she brought her knowledge of decision-making theory.

In the fifth chapter of BBVA Greenfluencers we share with you the experience of the international fund/asset manager Amundi, which began its journey towards sustainability years ago, convinced that ESG criteria would be the future of finance. Meet Yerlan Syzdykov, Global Head of Emerging Markets at Amundi Asset Management, who explains how Amundi assesses the ESG risks and opportunities emerging in Latin America.

SALT, Garanti BBVA’s cultural organization, is presenting ‘Is this Our Last Chance?’, a series of documentaries on the effects of climate change. It will be running at the walk-in cinema in SALT’s Beyoğlu facilities and can also be watched online at saltonline.org between February 29 and March 24.

The research undertaken by Mexican ecologists Gerardo Ceballos (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and Rodolfo Dirzo (Stanford University) in Latin America and Africa has shown that the current species extinction rates in many groups of organisms are much higher than throughout the preceding two million years, according to the committee of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology.

BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila, together with over 100 chairs or CEOs of large global companies, signed a declaration calling on the global leaders participating in the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28) to commit to “transformative policies and actions.” “Every fraction of a degree counts in the race to net zero,” explains this open letter from the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders promoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The protection of nature and its sustainable management is a matter of the very survival of the planet. Moreover, a growing number of financial institutions are becoming aware that this field offers a real opportunity. The deployment of long-term strategies, the role of investors and shareholders, and increasingly stringent regulation paint a brighter picture.

Droughts are abnormally dry periods, in which multiple factors are involved and which have important consequences for the environment and societies. An estimated 55 million people are directly affected by droughts every year, and they could harm as many as three out of four people worldwide by 2050, according to the UN. BBVA delves into this complex phenomenon in the new report 'Cuando falta el agua: claves para hacer frente a la sequía' (When water is scarce: keys to face drought).

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) experts have just warned that El Niño, a natural phenomenon that arises in the Pacific Ocean and shapes weather around the world, has started up again. So their forecasts, which a few months ago indicated that there was a 55% chance that El Niño would re-emerge in the second half of 2023, have proven to be accurate. But this is bad news. Because El Niño poses the danger of a new global temperature change.

Spanish households with higher consumption emit more CO2 than those with lower expenditure, although this difference is accentuated by transport use patterns, while emissions from food and energy are less unevenly distributed. By age, adults aged between 35 and 40 emit 6.9 tons of CO2 per year on average, 10% more than the average Spanish adult, according to the report ‘The Carbon Footprint of Spanish Households’ by BBVA Research.

In the last decade, the average social well-being in the countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) would have declined approximately two percent if the damage caused by CO2 emissions had been internalized, thus avoiding the worst future scenarios of global warming, according to BBVA Research.

Andrea Wulf is a historian and writer. She was born in New Delhi, India, before relocating to Germany as a child. She completed her studies in History of Design and teaches this subject at The Royal College of Art in London.

Paleoclimatologists James Zachos (University of California at Santa Cruz, USA) and Ellen Thomas (Yale University and Wesleyan University, USA) identified an anomalous episode  in the planet’s history in which massive emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere occurred, causing a global temperature rise of between 5 and 6 ºC and a massive extinction of species in the deep ocean, which has provided “a very valuable analogy of anthropogenic climate change”, according to the jury of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change.

Garanti BBVA was once again included in CDP’s global ‘A list’ for its climate change program thanks to the bank’s sustainability efforts, especially in climate change and inclusive growth. CDP’s climate change program is considered one of the world’s most important reporting platforms. Garanti BBVA has been reporting to the organization’s climate change program, and the public, since 2009, and to the CDP water program since 2015. The bank continues to be the main support of CDP in Türkiye.

Frans de Waal is a renowned primatologist and ethologist born in the Netherlands in 1948. He is Professor of Primate Behavior in the Department of Psychology at Emory University and Director of the Living Links Center, which is affiliated with the Yerkes National Research Center in Atlanta.

María Mendiluce, CEO of the We Mean Business coalition, shared her vision of the energy transition, the challenges of decarbonization and how these changes could affect the economy. "There has never been a more pressing need. It also has a very positive effect on people's pockets. It’s good for the economy and for the planet," she said in conversation with BBVA's Global Head of Sustainability, Javier Rodríguez Soler, in the framework of 'Companies with a Sustainable Future.'

He is the world's most popular contemporary philosopher. Michael Sandel, Professor at Harvard University and 2018 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, aims to put civic education on the table and connect philosophy with our daily lives. Also on this podcast.

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 launched a new tool to allow customers to view their carbon footprint. The new feature on the Garanti BBVA mobile app calculates their carbon emissions based on utility and fuel expenditures, and aims to contribute to a more sustainable world, and the climate crisis.

At an altitude of 3,812 meters, Lake Titicaca is not only the highest navigable lake in the world but also, according to magical Inca legends, the origin of Mother Earth, its first inhabitants, the sun and the moon. On the 52nd anniversary of International Earth Day, under the motto "invest in our planet", the great Titicaca is in a critical moment due to pollution and climate change.

Garanti Bank is cooperating with the Turkish Marine Environment Protection Association/TURMEPA to further its goal of working toward a sustainable world and combating the climate crisis. Both organizations are collaborating to collect waste and prevent marine pollution in the Marmara Sea and the provinces of the region as part of the “Blue Breath Project”.

Garanti BBVA Executive Vice President Ebru Dildar Edin, who attended the event to speak for the Turkish banking industry, was a member of the panel on "Financing Water Solutions and Programs Based on Innovative Science and Green Technology"

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology has gone in this fourteenth edition to the ecologists Lenore Fahrig, Simon Levin and Steward Pickett for incorporating the spatial dimension into ecosystem research.The three award winners have made fundamental contributions both to the development of the theory and mathematics of spatial ecology, and to its application to the design of nature reserve areas, wildlife management plans, as well as road networks and sustainable cities, according to the jury.

BBVA Chairman Carlos Torres Vila, met this Thursday at the bank's headquarters in Madrid with the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Mauricio Claver-Carone. This meeting is part of a series of working meetings that representatives of BBVA and the BBVA Microfinance Foundation will hold with members of the IDB. Sustainability was one of the issues on the agenda, in particular, support for the decarbonization of emerging countries, and especially in Latin America, as well as financial inclusion and the promotion of foreign investment in the region.