#71 Antoni Ballabriga: Why ESG investment is still a business winner

With the departure of nearly a dozen US and Canadian banks from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance in the past few months, is the future of sustainable finance hanging in balance? And what is the verdict on how far and well the green transition is advancing?

This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Antoni Ballabriga, Global Head for Sustainability Intelligence and Advocacy at BBVA, the Spanish multinational bank that has been working on sustainability and sustainable finance for almost 20 years.

Together they discussed why BBVA has bucked the trend of banks withdrawing from sustainable finance initiatives, including why it has instead chosen to double down on its sustainability agenda by increasing its sustainable investment twofold to €700 billion over the next five years. You’ll also hear more about:

• Why the Net-Zero Banking Alliance is considering altering its ambition of 1.5C to the minimum ambition of the Paris Agreement (below 2C),  
• How BBVA’s new concept of an ESG data pack will help companies and investors access all the information they need in one single deck 
• Why it decided to make a major investment in green hydrogen 
• The bank’s view on the Omnibus and why they believe mid-caps must be kept in scope of mandatory disclosure 
• A call for policymakers to step up their efforts on sustainable finance to secure the green transition

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