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BBVA widens its sustainable business with a global finance unit that will focus on cleantech innovation, announced BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila at the 3rd BBVA Sustainability Forum, held Thursday at the bank’s headquarters in Madrid. The specialized team, based in New York, London and Madrid, will offer lending and advisory services.
Carlos Torres Vila underscored the role of emerging clean technologies in decarbonizing the economy. In a talk alongside Lei Zhang, CEO of Envision, the BBVA Chair pointed out the opportunity for exponential growth of innovation in the green industrial revolution. Envision is one of the world’s largest new energy technology groups. In Spain, it will build a battery gigafactory in Cáceres, in western Spain. The company develops cutting-edge green technology projects all over the world.
Carlos Torres Vila stated that “at BBVA we believe in innovation as a driver to achieve decarbonization.” Specifically, he underlined the value of innovation in developing more affordable clean technologies. In this sense, the BBVA Chair insisted on how important it is to “be a tech company” in order to be competitive in the sustainability arena.
BBVA CEO Onur Genç, who spoke at the opening of this third BBVA Sustainability Forum, stressed that banks have a critical role in financing the decarbonization of the economy. In his opinion, banks are the catalysts to help their clients and society as a whole achieve an orderly transition. He also supported ambitious reforms and the right incentives to develop clean technologies for decarbonization, especially in its early stages.
The 3rd BBVA Sustainability Forum was attended, among others, by Ignacio Sánchez Galán, chairman of Iberdrola; Patricia Espinosa, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and CEOs of climate funds and hydrogen funds; Julia Reinaud, head of Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy fund in Europe; expert Juan Verde, advisor to the Biden administration on environmental issues; and other international leaders and prominent players in sustainability.
On BBVA’s behalf, participants also included Javier Rodríguez Soler, Global Head of Sustainability and CIB; Antonio Bravo, Global Head of Sustainability & CIB Strategy; Antoni Ballabriga, Global Head Sustainability Intelligence & Advocacy; and Peio Belausteguigoitia, CEO of BBVA in Spain.
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The round tables dealt with key issues such as the global and business challenges facing sustainability, the climate agenda from the U.S. perspective, and the power of innovation for decarbonization. Leading projects in sustainability from Spanish and international companies and institutions were presented.
The event was the first to be held in Ciudad BBVA, the bank’s Madrid headquarters, with sustainable certification awarded by Eventsost. This certificate acknowledges the bank’s efforts to make the 3rd BBVA Sustainability Forum an event that respects the environment.