FAQ

Sustainability is part of our Group's DNA and a key component of our business model.

Our core values: Ethics and Respect, together with our simple guiding principle "Do the right thing!", are applied to everything we do at all times and are at the core of all our stakeholder interactions, to generate sustainable results. Building a sustainable future is a key challenge for both our people and our business. Value creation for UniCredit means adding value in terms of human capital, society and the environment as well as financial returns. At the end of 2019, we announced our new ESG targets, as part of our long-term commitment to Sustainability.

For further details, see Our approach as a sustainable bank.

Our approach has been developed over the years, taking into account both the characteristics of our organisation and best Sustainability practices. We have identified three types of activity that characterise the way we operate, each with different mechanisms:

1. core banking activities;

2. corporate citizenship;

3. philanthropy.

For further details, see Our approach as a sustainable bank

Our latest commitments and targets were announced in November 2019. We are continuously taking actions to ensure the long-term Sustainability of our revenues and, at the same time, to help protect our natural environment. We aim to create value for every stakeholder in a responsible and sustainable way, in line with our simple principle: Do the right thing!
For further details, see Our approach as a sustainable bank.

Our climate strategy focuses on our direct impact on the environment and calls for a major reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases due to our operations.

Our main target is to cut emissions by 60% by 2020, with a longer-term target of an 80% reduction by 2030.

We believe that renewable energies are vital to tackle climate change in the long term. UniCredit's renewable energy projects portfolio was €6.9bn at the end of 2019, and we aim to expand it to over €9bn by 2023. In addition, nearly all of the electricity we used last year in Italy, Germany and Austria came from renewable energy sources: 100% in Italy, 100% in Germany and 92% in Austria.

At Group level, renewable energy sources account for 81% of total energy consumption.

For further details, see our Natural Capital section.     

Our Board and Top Management take climate change very seriously and we are committed to monitoring and limiting the impact of our Bank's activities on natural capital. For example, we have reviewed the Bank's coal policy and issued new policies on Arctic and non-conventional oil & gas, as announced in November 2019.

In addition, the Bank has launched a plastic-free project in order to significantly reduce plastic use across UniCredit's offices and branches.

For further details, see our Natural Capital section.

After the approval of our new policies on coal and non-conventional oil & gas, we established a constant and constructive dialogue with customers active in these sectors in order to explain our approach and continue to be a reliable partner for their transition to a lower carbon economy.
In this context, we are not participating in any projects in coal and non-conventional oil & gas and we are reviewing general financing to our customers, within the annual review of credit exposures.
For further details, see our Natural Capital section.

UniCredit has committed to fully exiting from thermal coal mining projects by 2023.
The new coal policy prohibits new projects in thermal coal mining and coal fired power generation. It also sets strict commitments in terms of reducing reliance on coal for corporate financing customers. The new oil and gas (O&G) policy covers the Arctic area and other non-conventional O&G, prohibiting the financing of new projects in Arctic oil and offshore Arctic gas as well as in shale O&G or related fracking, tar sands oil and deep sea O&G mining.
For further details, see our Natural Capital section.

You can find these policies in the dedicated section on our website.

United Nations members committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. The SDGs set the priorities and the aspirations to be achieved in sustainable development by 2030 and try to mobilise governments' and enterprises' efforts to achieve such global objectives and targets.
Starting with our 2015 Integrated Report, we have been regularly reporting on our contributions to the SDGs. Furthermore, in 2019, we signed the Principles for Responsible Banking, committing to strategically align our business with the SDGs and the Paris Agreement's Goals.
For further details, see our approach as a sustainable bank.

UniCredit is aware of the potential impacts on society and the environment which its operations and business activities may have.
The Group's Human Rights Commitment describes our approach to identifying and managing our impact on human rights, as well as to preventing and reducing potential violations. It also includes our approach to managing the environmental and social risks associated with the products and services we offer to our clients.
In this context, our Group aims to maximise positive impact through its activities, contributing to social value creation. Some tangible examples of promoting positive impacts are:
• developing specific customer services and products, fostering social inclusion;
• promoting sustainable investment solutions;
• basing our procurement processes on sustainable models, including selecting suppliers which meet certain minimum Sustainability requirements.

UniCredit remains committed to ensuring an equal opportunity workplace where people of all ages, genders and cultural backgrounds can contribute to our success. In line with our two core values: Ethics and Respect, we listen to the needs of our diverse workforce to create a better and more accessible working environment, based on inclusion. We promote work-life balance as well as diversity, inclusion and welfare policies.
Our success depends on respect and an open culture which allows each and every one of our people to actively contribute to our success.
We are also committed to fighting discrimination and supporting workers with disabilities throughout their working life.
For further details, see our Human Capital section.

UniCredit has been publishing its results and achievements on ESG topics since 2000, with the first Social and Environmental report. Since then, we publish an annual report prepared based on common European reporting standards (i.e. the GRI, issued by the Global Reporting Initiative). We have also adopted the former London Benchmarking Group (LBG), now Business for Societal Impact (B4SI) model to ensure transparent reporting, which includes our contributions to the communities in which we operate. The principles in the International <IR> Framework, published in December 2013 by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), are also used as reporting framework to describe our value creation over time.
Since 2017, our Integrated Report also serves as consolidated Non-Financial Statement pursuant to Italian Legislative Decree 254/2016.

The contents of our Integrated Report are made available to stakeholders on the Group website, in line with the deadlines set by Italian Legislative Decree 254/2016.

Group ESG Strategy and Impact Banking, within the Strategy and Optimisation area, reports directly to the CEO. This direct communication line strengthens our capacity to develop and fine-tune initiatives to significantly contribute to the long-term viability of our business.

For further details, see our Sustainability Governance

We carry out a regular materiality analysis to establish which Sustainability issues are priorities for our stakeholders. We identify those that call for strategic vision and which emerging trends to monitor in order to minimise risks and maximise opportunities. The results of this analysis can be seen in our materiality matrix.

Our communities are a cornerstone of our approach to Sustainability. We are fully aware of our responsibilities as a commercial bank, so we work to encourage financial inclusion as well as to promote social inclusion in the communities in which we operate. We are proud of our ability to serve the our customers' international needs and our role as a local financial institution.

For further details, see our Social and relationship Capital section. 

Sustainability is an integral part of our daily operations. We know that it brings real benefits - not just in terms of our image, but in terms of market competitiveness and differentiation. These factor into a company's reputation, which is of great importance, particularly in the financial sector. Beyond the company's image, it is essential to align sustainable behaviour with business objectives. Therefore, we strive to measure sustainable results, putting Sustainability at the centre of our business activities, in line with our key principle: Do the right thing!