Introduction

In line with its 2021 strategic statement, the Bank continues to pursue sustainable financing activities including green and social projects and supports the issuance of ESG bonds of its customers. The Bank’s main intention is to significantly reduce the financing of carbon-intensive projects in its loan portfolio. Individual goals from the first Pillar of the ESG Strategy are systematically monitored and reported to the Bank’s ESG Council.

In 2022, within the realization of the Bank’s ESG Strategy, the share of green financing of the balance sheet portfolio reached 4.6%, exceeding the target set for 2024.

In light of the energy crisis in Poland and Europe, there was a temporary change in the Bank’s Credit Policy to allow financing of coal trade. The change was a response to customer expectations and the Polish economy. With regard to the ESG Strategy, the Bank has not changed its approach to financing carbon trading, which is permitted under the Strategy as high-carbon financing. The Bank aims to achieve less than 1 percent exposure in carbon-intensive sectors as a proportion of its total financing portfolio by the end of 2024.

The energy crisis resulting from Russian aggression in Ukraine, including the ban on imports of coal and coking coal from Russia and Belarus to Poland, caused concerns among the Bank’s clients regarding energy resources, their availability and high prices. Many of them were making requests to provide short-term financing for coal. The decision to allow financing of coal trading has ensured the supply of energy and heat in the Polish economy during the current heating season. Its purpose was to secure district heating companies, combined heat and power (CHP) plants, heating plants in connection with the need to purchase coal.

Entities that had been provided with the financing for coal, are both large companies and small, local heating plants, for which the lack of financing could mean limiting or discontinuing operations.

Regarding to supporting the issuance of customer ESG bonds, the Bank arranged nearly PLN 8 billion of bond issues in 2021 and 2022. The increase by approx. PLN 2.0 billion between 2022 and 2021 resulted from the additional qualification of some agreements from 2021 to 2022 (in the amount of PLN 1.6 billion), and new contracts from 2022 (in the amount of PLN 400 million). The low value of new agreements for arranging the issuance resulted from the limited activity of the debt market (as a result of warfare, increased risk and interest rates).

The methodology of disclosure of ESG indicators in the 1st pillar of the ESG Strategy was based on the following assumptions:

1. Financing sustainable projects means financing in the form of loans and green or social leases* on the basis of contracts concluded in a given reporting year (cumulative indicator),
2. Supporting the issuance of customer ESG bonds are funded green bonds and social bonds for new contracts entered into during the reporting year (cumulative indicator),
3. The share of green financing is the share of green loans, leasing and covered bond issues as at 31/12/2022 in the Bank’s gross financing,
4. The share of high-carbon financing is the share of high-carbon loans, leases and bond issues covered as of the end of the reporting year (31/12/2022) in the Bank’s gross financing,

* As defined in the ESG Strategy:

Green financing includes environmental projects aimed at reduction of CO2 emissions and coal consumption as well as production of energy from renewable sources. 

Social impact financing includes projects such as: supporting sustainable development, improving the quality of life of local communities and providing access to public infrastructure, that are implemented by local governments and society organisations.