The transition to renewable energy
Greenhouse gas emissions decreased in 2020 due to the disruptions of economic activity, travel, and commerce brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. What can…
As climate change and environmental degradation pose increasing risks to the ecosystem, we aim to create a positive ecological and social impact - for the benefit of our customers and society.
At Spuerkeess, we believe that our profitability is closely linked to sustainability. Being profitable in the long term goes hand in hand with the gradual improvement of our environmental and social performance. As a Bank centered on Luxembourg territory, we will support initiatives for sustainable finance (e.g. LSFI) and we align with Government and European Union programs. The objective is to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Luxembourg by 55% by 2030.
This implies that we commit to raising the awareness of our employees as well as supporting economic players towards a sustainable economy while demonstrating an understanding of sectoral and socio-demographic challenges.
As a Luxembourg banking player that has signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking, we are committed to aligning our business strategy progressively with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. In 2021, we signed the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, which aims to mobilise the financial sector in favour of the climate.
To accelerate the movement towards electromobility, our clients benefit from preferential financing conditions when purchasing an electric car. We have also initiated collaborations with ACL, Enovos and Leaseplan.
Digitalisation has enabled us to strengthen our competitive position in the face of new market participants such as the neo-banks. By supporting our professional clients in the realisation of their innovation projects, we are contributing to the digitisation of the Luxembourg economy. In collaboration with the European Investment Fund, we are actively supporting our SME clients (small and medium-sized businesses) who want to undertake projects in this area. Since 2019, we have provided around EUR 15 million in financing for digitisation and innovation projects.
Our “Grants and Financing Advisory Service” is intended to support our clients in their energy efficiency projects and help them understand the aid and grants that are available to them. We have implemented tools to identify projects that are eligible for these grants and subsidies, guide our clients on actions they can take, propose types of financing adapted to different projects, and support them in their ecological, energy efficiency or sustainable development projects. We have an online simulator that enables our clients to find out whether their projects are eligible for a grant, and tell them their carbon footprint and gain in CO2 tax for the next two years. For SME clients, the concept is the same. We support them in their projects related to energy efficiency, innovation, business development, renewable energies and electromobility. To take account of the “Social” aspect, the new version of our tool also includes the various state grants available for the acquisition, construction or renovation of a property in Luxembourg.
Since the launch of our collaboration with etika in 1997, we have supported 302 alternative financing initiatives. Thanks to the solidarity of holders of an Alternative Savings account, savings deposits have financed projects that comply with ecological and social criteria (e.g. solar power, social housing, electric buses, organic restaurants, etc.) for a total of EUR 102.627.236.
At the end of 2021, we launched an additional offering in our “Green” range: Activmandate Green. This is a premium wealth management product, based on themes linked to climate change and the environment.
End of 2021 we launched an additional product in our "Green" range: Activmandate Green. This is a premium wealth management product, based on themes linked to climate change and the environment.
Since 2020 we have also offered Lux-Equity Green, which is invested in projects that seek to improve their environmental impacts while at the same time complying with social criteria.
With regard to our ecological footprint, since 2019 the electricity we consume comes from sources that are 100% renewable. Despite the age of some of our buildings and their classification as historical monuments, we have managed to reduce our annual energy consumption by 39% since 2008. As a result of the pandemic, we have made it possible for our employees to work from home, and increased the level of online and digital contact with our customers. The digitalisation of the Bank has enabled us have a positive impact on the environment, with a reduction of -8% in the paper consumption in our offices during 2021 (compared to 2020).
Finally, we are pleased to announce that the National Institute for Sustainable Development (INDR) has renewed our SRE (Socially Responsible Enterprise) label.
Since 2006, we have signed several charters highlighting our determination to be a socially and environmenally responsible bank.
The Spuerkeess Strategic Plan 2025 highlights the importance of Sustainable Development in our Corporate Strategy. An essential dimension of this strategy is the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks in all of our processes and activities. This analysis is complemented by the assessment of the negative and positive impacts of our investments and financing initiatives on the principal ESG criteria defined in our sustainability analysis.
With a view to ensuring a sustainable operation, we have decided to develop – in collaboration with external experts – a proprietary methodology for the ESG assessment and analysis of the different types of asset classes. Our ESG analysis methodology is based on four pillars: the transparency and quality of the ESG indicators and data and their compliance with regulations (1); the material ESG criteria relative to the industry sector (2); an in-depth analysis of the climate impact (3); and the definition of sector-based benchmarks (4).