Helaba’s Sustainability Team has a wide variety of tasks: it formulates the sustainability strategy, develops and updates the sustainability principles, and is responsible for maintaining a dialogue with the sustainability rating agencies. It takes part in both ongoing and new sustainability projects of the Bank, e.g. sharpening the focus of sustainability-related aspects of the credit risk strategy and broadening the scope of sustainability reporting. Beyond that, the team bears responsibility for analysing regulatory developments relating to sustainability, e.g. assessing the consequences of the EU’s Financing Sustainable Growth action plan on the Bank and submitting corresponding proposals for implementation.
The Sustainability Team also represents the Bank in associations and external initiatives on sustainability, especially in working groups set up by the banking industry associations – such as the Association of German Public Sector Banks (VöB), the German Association for Environmental Management and Sustainability in Financial Institutions (VfU) and the Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany. The team creates transparency through continuous communication, including the CSR report in the Bank’s management report (non-financial statement). It also maintains an intensive dialogue with other Group companies.
“As sustainability is an issue that affects a wide variety of the Bank’s divisions, we have sustainability mentors in different areas of the company. They provide us with key support by acting as contact persons and disseminators of information. Thanks to them, we can entrench awareness for the Bank’s sustainability-oriented business strategy even more firmly across the enterprise. Our next goal is to establish a Group-wide Sustainability management group at decision-making level. We are currently preparing a proposal for how this management group could discuss sustainability issues and make corresponding decisions.”
Michael Seibel,
Helaba’s Sustainability Officer
Sustainability ratings
ISS-Oekom confirmed Prime Status for Helaba, which ranks among the top 20 percent in its peer group of 138 banks. All agencies give Helaba a stable rating in the upper average range for the global industry.
Climate
The Bank explicitly takes climate risks into account in its Group risk management system. It is scaling back its involvement in the financing of coal-fired power stations and power station coal. At the same time, it is supporting the move to renewable energy through targeted financing of energy-efficient, eco-friendly technologies and renewables.
Default risk
Animal welfare was included as a new assessment criterion in the sub-strategy for default risks and more detailed definitions added for coal financing.
Helaba’s sustainability activities and the latest ratios.