Impact on planet

One of the overarching priorities of our 'making the difference' strategy is aiming to put sustainability at the heart of what we do. This recognises that we have a role to play in defining new ways of doing business that align economic growth with positive environmental and social impact.

We strive for net zero in our own operations. That means making sure our operations – our buildings, data centres and how we use transport – are in line with the low-carbon economy of the future. But we can do more. As a global bank with billions flowing through our books, we strive to make an impact for the better.

The biggest impact we can make is through our financing, as we committed to steering our portfolio in line with global climate goals. In practice, steering usually means engaging with our clients to help them make the tangible changes needed to decarbonise the economy. One example of doing so is by providing sustainability-linked loans and bonds to our clients.

Society is transitioning to a low-carbon economy. So are our clients, and so is ING. We finance a lot of sustainable activities, but we still finance more that’s not. See how we’re progressing on ing.com/climate.

Roland, director of Sustainable Finance at ING, was part of the team who launched the sustainability-linked loan concept in 2017.

“Sustainability-linked loans are a way for ING to support, motivate, and reward clients in their aim to become more sustainable. They link interest rates to a company’s sustainability performance. In 2017, we coordinated the first syndicated sustainability-linked loan in the market for Philips.”