• Garanti BBVA makes sustainability loans fully available via mobile and online platforms, cutting time and operational costs.
• Borrowers must document green and social project spending, ensuring funds are directed toward verifiable sustainability outcomes.
• The bank has raised its sustainable-finance target to 3.5 trillion lira ($104 billion) for 2018–2029, after already meeting its 2025 goal four years early.

Türkiye’s largest private lender accelerates green finance

Garanti BBVA, the Turkish arm of Spain’s BBVA, has digitized its sustainability loan offering, making it accessible through mobile and internet banking platforms. Previously limited to branch applications, the loans are now available to both corporate clients and retail customers online, a move the bank says will speed approvals, cut paper use, and widen access to green financing.

The digital transition allows businesses and households to apply directly for financing aimed at lowering carbon emissions, boosting energy efficiency, and upgrading environmental performance. Executive Vice President Cemal Onaran described the shift as part of Garanti BBVA’s broader commitment to helping Türkiye transition to a low-carbon, inclusive economy.

Conditions tied to verifiable sustainability outcomes

The loans are offered at favorable rates but are conditional on borrowers providing documentation of sustainability-related spending, such as invoices for energy-efficient equipment or renewable energy systems. Funds are deposited directly into the borrower’s account rather than the supplier’s, giving clients flexibility while ensuring accountability in how the financing is used.

Garanti BBVA said eligible uses include climate change mitigation, natural-capital protection, circular-economy investments, sustainable agriculture, water-efficiency projects, social infrastructure, and initiatives that promote financial inclusion. “Moving sustainability loans to digital channels improves access, speed, and efficiency, while supporting our clients’ decarbonization and energy-efficiency goals,” Onaran said.

Part of a broader sustainable-finance strategy

The digital rollout builds on Garanti BBVA’s wider suite of sustainable finance products, which include green and social loans, eco-friendly vehicle financing, sustainable bonds, advisory services for environmental and social projects, and “blue finance” focused on water efficiency.

The bank reached its 2018–2025 sustainable-finance goal of 400 billion Turkish lira ($11.9 billion) in the first half of 2025, four years ahead of schedule. In response, it raised its ambition to 3.5 trillion lira ($104 billion) for 2018–2029, leaving roughly 3.1 trillion lira ($92 billion) to be deployed over the next four years.

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Implications for Türkiye’s transition

Türkiye faces mounting pressure to align with EU climate regulations and international carbon-reduction goals. As one of the country’s leading private lenders, Garanti BBVA’s acceleration of green lending through digital platforms is expected to play a role in scaling private capital flows toward climate action.

For investors and corporate leaders, the move signals the deepening role of technology in delivering green finance at scale. It also points to the competitive advantages for banks able to combine sustainability targets with digital efficiency in emerging markets.

Global relevance

Digitizing sustainability finance is a step increasingly mirrored across international markets as lenders respond to both regulatory expectations and client demand. By raising its long-term funding target and expanding access channels, Garanti BBVA positions itself as a case study in how emerging-market banks can mobilize large-scale capital while embedding accountability standards into green lending.

For multinational investors monitoring capital flows in Türkiye, the 3.5 trillion lira target underscores the scale of financing expected to enter the country’s green economy through 2029. For peers in banking and finance, it provides a glimpse of how digital infrastructure can support ESG objectives in markets balancing growth pressures with climate commitments.

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