ProCredit Group promotes ethical way of banking, which is based on European Standards. Reducing negative impact on the environment and promotion of a sustainable way of business is an integral part of our business model, due to which ProCredit Group has ESG rating and trust of customers in the countries where we operate.
What is an ESG indicator?
ESG stands for “Environmental, Social and Governance” and reflects a company’s measures and long-term commitment towards the community, the environment and social impact. ESG indicators are used to determine the sustainability performance of companies, which is not just about historical financial performance.
An outstanding ESG rating reflects a company’s efforts and performance regarding its social and environmental responsibilities. It can also help investors to identify opportunities or risks that might not be detected through conventional financial analysis.
The impact of ProCredit Bank in Moldova
Ethical, social and environmental principles have been fully integrated into ProCredit’s business model from the very start. In Moldova, as in all countries where ProCredit banks operate, treating colleagues and clients, as well as the societies and environments in which we work, with respect and a long-term perspective is central to our philosophy and our success. Our corporate values form the foundation of our business ethics.
At ProCredit Bank Moldova, as at all ProCredit banks, we are not solely driven by profitability; we also conduct a comprehensive analysis of the impact we and our clients have or might have on society and the environment around us. Our business model is focused on creating a stable and reliable long-term relationship with our clients. The close cooperation we have with them allows us to understand and support their businesses by providing sound financial advice, with particular attention to their businesses’ impact on the environment, as well as their compliance with health and safety standards.
Internally, we continuously raise awareness about our footprint and identify opportunities to reduce our environmental impact, which includes developing appropriate measures to reduce energy and resource consumption. Thanks to these internal measures, the Group reduced its environmental footprint (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) by 56% during the last 4 years. During the last eight years, the bank has reduced its annual consumption of energy by 76% or 2.5 million kWh, of domestic water by 79% or 3.4 thousand m3, and of paper by 94% or 16.4 tonnes.
Currently, the green loan portfolio accounts for 16.8% or EUR 28.8 million of the bank’s total loan book and is mainly composed of renewable energy projects, energy efficiency loans and other green measures, such as photovoltaic panels, recycling and other environmentally friendly activities. This demonstrates that for ProCredit Bank Moldova, the environmental component of our approach is not just a fleeting trend, but an integral part of how we do business. With our accumulated in-house expertise, we have positioned ourselves as the partner of choice for green loans.
As a development-oriented commercial group of banks, ProCredit continuously evaluates the relevance of its actions with regard to its concept of development, which goes well beyond the traditional notion of economic growth. Rather, it is related to a broader sense of responsibility towards the countries in which we operate.
We carefully select the clients we want to work with and provide them with fair and transparent advice from well-trained staff who are not incentivised to push loan business. We provide modern and innovative banking services to our business and private clients, and we want to work with them long term.
Minimising our negative impact on the environment and proactively promoting a sustainable way of doing business is an integral part of our business strategy – not only in connection with our lending operations or the provision of financial services to our clients, but also in our own day-to-day operations as institutions.
ProCredit banks aim to be the “Hausbank” for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as to promote a savings culture for private individuals in order to counteract the “buy now, pay later” mentality, which in our countries of operation is often combined with irresponsible, and unfortunately widespread, consumer lending behaviour.
That is why the ProCredit group continuously assesses is actions and decisions, not only from the perspective of profitability and our clients’ needs, but also and above all against the impact they might have on society and the environment around us.
Based in Frankfurt, Germany, the parent company of the group, ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA, is responsible for the strategic management, capital adequacy, reporting, risk management, and proper business organisation of the group.
The group’ vision of development entails social and environmentally conscious management of the ecological and social footprint of investments, the dissemination of technologies and knowledge, and the creation of jobs. This is why we focus on innovative small and medium-sized businesses and on private clients who, like us, have realised that sustainable investments generate sustainable economic growth for the next generation as well.
Following international sustainability principles
The group is committed to continuously reporting on key ESG achievements and initiatives in line with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards. In addition to observing these standards and supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the ProCredit group is a member of the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and shares its Principles for Responsible Banking. As part of its efforts to assess climate risks and limit our impact on climate change, the ProCredit group has committed to measuring and disclosing the greenhouse emissions associated with its portfolio of loans and investments, in accordance with the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) standards.
In 2022 the ProCredit group joined the Net-Zero Banking Alliance and also committed to setting near- and long-term emissions reductions goals company-wide in accordance with the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi). Furthermore, the group joined the UN Global Compact to align its operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, as well as to take action in support of the issues embodied in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Finally, in keeping with its role as a frontrunner in the global effort to reduce plastic production, the ProCredit group is part of the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics convened by UNEP FI, which promotes the development of international agreements to end plastic pollution by 2024.
ESG ratings and reporting of the ProCredit group
The ProCredit group is regularly monitored by internationally operating ESG Rating agencies, such as ISS ESG, MSCI ESG Research and Edison Investment Research. For more information about ProCredit Holding’s rating, please visit: https://www.procredit-holding.com/rating/ and view our report at https://www.procredit-holding.com/investor-relations/our-share/esg-research/
The positive reports provided by the rating agencies confirm our sustainable business approach.
ProCredit’s environmental management system (EMS)
To accomplish this, the ProCredit group has developed and implemented a comprehensive environmental management system (EMS) that is based on three pillars – internal environmental management, management of environmental and social risk in lending, and green finance. Not only does it aim to reduce both the internal and external environmental impact of the group, but it also promotes loans and investments that have a positive impact on the environment.
The internal environmental management pillar aims at improving the institutions’ internal environmental performance, which we accomplish by implementing in-house energy and resource efficiency measures, both technical and behavioural. The key to achieving this goal is raising the level of environmental awareness and knowledge among staff.
The management of environmental and social risk in lending aims at reducing the ProCredit banks’ external environmental impact caused by their lending activities. For this reason, a group-wide Exclusion List – which is also part of the banks’ Code of Conduct – defines specific activities that are harmful to society and/or the environment. We therefore neither finance these activities nor engage in business relationships with companies that conduct them.
The green finance pillar of our EMS serves to improve the ProCredit banks’ indirect environmental performance. To this end, the banks design and offer special (green or environmental) lending services to support investments in energy efficiency, renewable energies, and other environmentally friendly measures.
Together we can create a better future.
