In fresh years, the Polish banking sector has been intensively active in eco-friendly activities, introducing tools to enable customers to monitor their environmental impact. 1 pioneer in this field is Santander Bank Polska, which he introduced to his trading service carbon footprint counter. This tool allows customers to estimation their individual environmental impact on the basis of transactions. However, questions arise as to whether banks can usage this data in the future to limit payments or another financial operations.
Carbon footprint counter at Santander Bank Polska
July 2023 Santander Bank Polska made available to its customers the carbon footprint counter function on the transaction site. This tool analyses client spending by assigning them circumstantial CO2 emissions values, allowing them to manage their environmental impact consciously. It is worth noting that it was originally planned to implement this function in November 2022, but for various reasons it was postponed.
Santander is not the only bank in Poland to introduce solutions supporting customers in monitoring their carbon footprint. BNP Paribas Bank Polska offers its customers from the micro-enterprise section free access to the carbon footprint calculator on the Envirly platform. This tool enables the calculation of emissions in ranges 1 and 2 and the analysis of the main sources of emissions, helping companies to make emanation simplification strategies.
In turn PKO Bank Polski, according to his strategy for the years 2023-2025, he joined Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF). The aim of this initiative is to make a harmonised approach to assessing and disclosing greenhouse gas emissions in bank credit portfolios. As a result, PKO BP aims to reduce the carbon footprint resulting from its operations and decarbonise its credit portfolio.
Will monitoring the carbon footprint affect access to banking services?
The introduction of carbon footprint monitoring tools raises questions among customers about the possible consequences of specified actions. Concerns concern the anticipation of limiting access to financial services, specified as withdrawals or loans, on the basis of an individual carbon footprint.
Currently, banks focus on education and environmental awareness of their customers, providing them with tools to monitor and reduce CO2 emissions. There is no authoritative information suggesting that financial institutions plan to restrict access to services on the basis of carbon footprint data. specified actions could have a negative social consequence and violate existing rules on equal access to financial services.
The implementation of carbon footprint monitoring tools raises any challenges. Banks frequently face a deficiency of access to advanced quality data that would let a precise estimation of emissions. These data are not always collected during funding, and if they are, they can be insufficiently digitised and hard to analyse. In addition, there is simply a request to build fresh competences among bank staff in the field of sustainable finance and emanation analysis.
Introduction by Santander Bank Polska The carbon footprint counter and akin initiatives of another banks show the increasing engagement of the financial sector in green activities. Currently, these tools mainly service to educate and increase the awareness of environmental customers. However, there is no reason to fear that in the close future banks will restrict access to financial services on the basis of an individual carbon footprint of customers. It is crucial to further make transparent and ethical sustainable financing practices that will support both environmental protection and consumer rights.
Continued here:
The first bank in Poland introduces a carbon footprint counter. Is this the beginning of pay restrictions?
