Energy production, agriculture and home loans account for 90.6% of the emissions of OP Financial Group's loan portfolio. OP Financial Group has now set emissions targets for these three sectors, based on a materiality analysis.
"Sustainability is at the core of OP Financial Group's strategy. As Finland's largest provider of corporate loans and financial services, we have an important task to support our customers towards a net zero emissions economy. With our sector-specific emissions reduction targets, we seek to promote the green transition", says Annina Tanhuanpää, Head of ESG and Corporate Responsibility at OP Financial Group.
These emissions targets aim to nudge society towards more sustainable and lower-emission operations. In practice, it means committing to development and building competence.
OP Financial Group's sector-specific emissions reduction targets:
- In energy production, a 50% reduction of emissions intensity from the 2022 level by 2030
- In agriculture, a 30% reduction of absolute emissions from the 2022 level by 2030
- In home loans, a 45% reduction of emissions intensity from the 2022 level by 2030
In the energy sector, OP Financial Group strongly supports companies' financing for the green transition. Companies are encouraged to make plans and take action to transition towards lower-emission energy production. In agricultural finance, we will give priority and pricing benefits for projects which clearly commit to an emissions reduction programme implemented together with the manufacturing industry or some other sector. In home loans, we will assess various ways in which we can promote energy-efficient building and renovation. For example, our owner-customers might in the future get benefits for loans that meet certain energy efficiency criteria.
Net zero emissions from our corporate loan portfolio by 2050
Corporate demand for sustainable financing has continued to be record high in 2023. OP’s sustainable financing commitment portfolio grew by 16% from the previous year to 6.0 billion euros. Sustainable financing products accounted for up to 18% of OP Corporate Bank’s liabilities at the end of June.
As of 2021, OP Financial Group is committed to reducing the emissions of its corporate loan portfolio in line with the Paris Agreement, with a target of net zero emissions from the corporate loan portfolio by 2050. At the launch of its sustainability programme, OP Financial Group announced its interim target towards the Paris Agreement goals: the Group will cut 25% of its corporate loan portfolio emissions by 2030 from the 2022 level. This interim target is now specified, to align with a more detailed analysis based on the 2022 emissions calculation.
The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the climate reporting standard derived from it encourage setting sector-specific emissions reduction targets – such as the ones now announced – that are more specific than portfolio-level targets.
The emissions reduction targets were set based either on emissions intensity (emissions per economic activity) or absolute emissions. The targets are based on sector-specific emissions reduction trajectories calculated using the International Energy Agency's Net Zero Emissions scenarios (IEA NZE).
Read more about OP Financial Group's sustainability programme.
Media enquiries:
OP Financial Group Communications, tel. 010 252 8719, viestinta@op.fi