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CSR Press Release

BNP Paribas reinforces environmental management to accomplish sustainability commitments

March 16, 2021

BNP Paribas in Portugal renews the environmental certification ISO 14001:2015, obtained in 2017, which now covers four buildings and seven entities of the Group in Portugal.

Lisbon, 03 March 2021 – In a clear demonstration of its commitment in reducing the carbon footprint also in our country, since globally BNP Paribas is Carbon Neutral since 2017, BNP Paribas in Portugal has received the renovation of its environmental certification ISO 14001:2015, firstly obtained in 2017. It includes now a total of four buildings where business activity is developed, covering seven entities of the Group.

This certification, assigned by APCER, encompasses all activities, services and products of BNP Paribas, Securities Services, Personal Finance (operating under the brand Cetelem), Cardif, Leasing Solutions, Factor and ITP, at the buildings ART’S, Gago Coutinho #26 and Torre Ocidente – Colombo, in Lisbon, and URBO, in Matosinhos.

“The certification is the result of a strong strategic planning on the business areas involved, which implied the study of the environmental impact under a perspective of the financial products life-cycle and the identification of risks and opportunities which the environmental changes represent to their businesses”, highlights Patricia Freixo, Environmental Manager at Group BNP Paribas Portugal.

In this regard, the implementation of the Environmental Management System of BNP Paribas Securities Services, the first Entity of the Group certified in Portugal, was, at the time, an important step on the way the organization manages the environmental impacts directly caused by the usage of buildings, whose impacts have been decreasing since then. On the first three years, from 2017 and 2019, it was possible to accomplish the following results:

  • -15% in consumption of electric energy by employee;
  • -66% in consumption of print paper by employee;
  • -37% in consumption of water by employee;

In a pandemic context, sustainability remains a priority

Given the current pandemic context, although there is still a significant reduction in the consumption of resources and in the production of waste and CO2 emissions, BNP Paribas is aware that this is a temporary measure not losing by so, the focus on the maintenance of the good results.

During 2020, the organisation continued to monitor the environmental development and to look for solutions to assure the continuity of the improvements and ensure that these will remain when “normal life” returns. In addition, and considering the specific situation we are living in, it has been searching for better solutions to take care of the impacts of the pandemic in the facilities management, having already developed a differentiated system for the waste management of surgical masks at the office and assuring the provision through a Portuguese company, in order to encourage local and family economy and avoid the ecological footprint caused by the importation of such articles.

Environmental Management at the centre of the local strategy

Through the development of its programme under the name of Cooler Planet by BNP Paribas Portugal, with which it proposes, since 2018, to contribute to the commitment of Portugal on the carbon neutrality until 2050, several innovative solutions have been adopted to better manage the impacts of its People and Buildings, of the Products and Services offered to its Clients and on the production of positive Impacts on Society, namely through the offset of part of the CO2 locally produced.

For 2021, BNP Paribas is developing its own strategy of urban sustainable mobility, with the goal of finding solutions to reduce the impacts of its employees commuting as an answer to its local assumed commitments, namely the “Pact of Entrepreneurial Mobility for the City of Lisbon” and the “Commitment Climate Action 2030”.

About the ISO 14001:2015

The ISO 14001 is an international standard, recognised all over the world and, for that reason, it is important to value and give credibility to the actions and efforts of the Bank in this area. It represents a long-term commitment to the good environmental practices, subject to regular evaluations, conducted through audits, being an important tool to mitigate the indirect environmental aspects, influencing the adoption of good practices by other entities, namely suppliers and clients.