ING publishes 2023 Climate Report

ING today published its annual Climate Report. This report explains how our financing impacts climate change, as well as how climate change impacts our business. It includes our progress on steering the nine most carbon-intensive sectors in our loan portfolio towards global climate goals - our Terra approach - how we engage with clients to help them in their transitions, and our work to assess climate risks and take action to mitigate them.

“Climate change is a fact and its effects are being felt all around us,” said ING CEO Steven van Rijswijk. “The latest climate science sends a clear warning that we only have a small window of opportunity to limit global warming to 1.5°C. I strongly believe that every step counts, every action is meaningful, and every tenth of a degree matters. We all – governments, NGOs, businesses and individuals – have a part to play, and we can all make the difference for present and future generations if we work together towards the same goals.”

Putting sustainability at the heart of what we do is one of the two key pillars of our strategy. We’re proud of the progress we’re making, and how we're using our financing to contribute to the transition of our customers but we know we still have work to do. Change doesn’t happen overnight, and going green isn’t black and white. The reality is that even though we finance a lot of sustainable activities, we still finance more that’s not. Society is transitioning to a low-carbon economy. So are our clients, and so are we.

Key takeaways from the report are:

• We continue to help set sector financing standards for decarbonisation. We’ve done so in steel and shipping and are collaborating on a new methodology for the aluminium sector.
• We’ve set 2030 and 2050 targets for not only upstream, but also the midstream and downstream parts of the oil & gas value chain. We’re also working to expand our approach into trade and commodity finance, with the aim of covering the full value chain of oil & gas under our Terra approach.
• We’re increasingly integrating climate into our decision-making and business processes.
• Besides oil & gas, we’re expanding our Terra approach into more areas including Business Banking (agriculture and transportation, in the Netherlands) and global commercial real estate.
• We make specific calls on sector level to governments and regulators to more firmly guide the transition with harmonised policies and incentives that accelerate the decarbonisation of the global economy.
  
  

As insights on climate action are evolving rapidly, we continue to improve our approach. This report provides us and our stakeholders with the opportunity to reflect on the progress we've been making, and to look ahead to the areas where we can strive to do more, aim to go faster, drive increased collaboration and call for greater guidance.

The 2023 Climate Report is available for download here.

Note for editors

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ING PROFILE
ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is: empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s more than 59,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 40 countries.

ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).

Sustainability is an integral part of ING’s strategy, evidenced by ING’s leading position in sector benchmarks. ING's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating by MSCI was affirmed 'AA' in September 2022. As of August 2022, Sustainalytics considers ING’s management of ESG material risk to be ‘strong’, and in June 2022 ING received an ESG rating of 'strong' from S&P Global Ratings. ING Group shares are also included in major sustainability and ESG index products of leading providers Euronext, STOXX, Morningstar and FTSE Russell.

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Attachment

• PR Climate Report 2023 FINAL