Impacts

Titre degradé

impacts

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT

A GREEN ECONOMY AND POSITIVE IMPACT FINANCE

In 2000, BANK OF AFRICA Group was the first African bank to sign the UNEP FI’s Statement of Commitment by Financial Institutions on the Environment and Sustainable Development. In 2019, it became one of the founding members of the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Banking. The Group is committed to integrating sustainable finance principles into all its activities. In 2020, the Bank became the first institution in the Arab world to publish a report on sustainable finance, ‘Promoting Sustainable Finance and Climate in the Arab Region’.

A RESPONSI BLE APPROACH TO ENVI RONMENTAL PROTECTION

For many years, consistent with its strategy, BANK OF AFRICA has adopted a progressive approach aimed at reducing the direct environmental impact from its day-to-day operations. An ambitious action plan was launched across the entire Group to actively manage energy and resource consumption as well as improving its processes and monitoring measures.

BANK OF AFRICA attaches great importance to raising awareness among staff through training initiatives and in-company campaigns aimed at encouraging employees to adopt good habits and eco-friendly behaviour. BANK OF AFRICA’s energy management system has been awarded dual certification, adding further credibility to its environmental commitment. This certification, awarded by both the Moroccan Institute for Standardisation (IMANOR) and Bureau Veritas, underlines the Bank’s ongoing commitment to reducing its energy consumption and its carbon footprint and controlling energy resources efficiently. This approach enables BANK OF AFRICA to consistently reduce the carbon footprint of its operations.

PROACTIVELY SUPPORTING OUR CUSTOMERS WITH THEIR ENERGY TRANSITION

BANK OF AFRICA is firmly committed to playing a leading role in sustainable economic development. The Group makes a significant contribution to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since sustainable development and energy transition, in particular, have long been one of the Group’s strategic priorities.

BANK OF AFRICA, as advisor and financier, is proactively and responsibly helping its customers, whatever their business activity, to make a success of their energy transition. This is achieved by offering them specialised financing lines, in partnership with prestigious multilateral development institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the French Development Agency (AFD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

BANK OF AFRICA aims to accelerate employee upskilling so that employees may become committed partners in the Group's ESG transformation as well as supporting customers as closely as possible with their energy transition. An ambitious awareness training programme has been launched with the following goals:

• Develop a Group-wide CSR culture with a common knowledge base for all functions and business lines
• Help business lines meet their respective needs when it comes to developing employees’ technical expertise.

A POSITIVE IMPACT BANK

BANK OF AFRICA intends to extend the UNEP FI’s Positive Impact approach and best practices to all loan commitments, including retail customers, professional banking customers and Moroccans Around the World. An in-depth assessment of the loan portfolio based on ESG criteria is to be carried out, enabling the Bank to offer appropriate finance products and bespoke solutions. In 2022, the Group pledged to help businesses reach their decarbonisation goals while remaining competitive and to make Moroccan export companies aware of new regulations linked to their carbon footprint.

By endorsing Principles for Responsible Banking, a global standard, BANK OF AFRICA is helping align banking operations to sustainable development priorities, particularly when it comes to environmental protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation and the needs of future generations:

• Strategic alignment – the Bank is committed to aligning its business strategy to individuals’ needs and society’s goals, as expressed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Climate Agreement and relevant national and regional frameworks.
• Increasing positive impacts and reducing negative impacts – the Bank strives to continuously increase the positive impacts from its products and services on the environment and on its customers, employees and society at large, while reducing the potentially negative impacts from the activities it finances on people and on the environment. The Bank actively reviews, based on objective and demanding criteria, potential social and environmental risks from its financing, lending, investing, purchasing and supply chain activities.
• Responsible relationships with customers - the Bank behaves responsibly toward its customers by encouraging transparent, honest and trusting relationships and by promoting economic activities which generate shared prosperity for present and future generations.
• Stakeholder engagement - the Bank proactively and responsibly consults, engages and partners with relevant stakeholders to achieve society’s goals.
• Governance and public targets - the Bank's governance is robust. As a result of its organisational structures and its highly-skilled, multidisciplinary and complementary human resources, the Group is able to set demanding targets and manage transparently.
  This enables the Bank to be effectively aligned with public targets and achieve outstanding results and impacts.
• Ongoing assessment - the Bank regularly reviews implementation of these principles and assesses the impact accordingly.

A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

For many years, BANK OF AFRICA has adopted a progressive approach aimed at reducing the direct environmental impact from its activities. A proactive action plan was launched across the entire Group to actively manage energy and resource consumption as well as improving its processes and monitoring measures.

The Bank has adopted various waste management and disposal measures. For toners, it has chosen a subsidiary specialising in reconditioning for reuse. IT equipment is recycled and treated by the Al Jiser Association, which then donates it to state-run educational establishments.

A collective effort involving the entire workforce is crucial to realising the Group's vision. It is for this reason that BANK OF AFRICA is committed to raising awareness among staff across all business lines about sustainable development issues. Training initiatives and in-company awareness campaigns are regularly carried out to encourage employees to adopt good habits and eco- friendly behaviour.

BANK OF AFRICA is the first bank in Africa to have been awarded dual certification for its energy management system, by the Moroccan Institute for Standardisation (IMANOR) and by Bureau Veritas. These certifications give credibility to the Bank's environmental commitment, particularly the issue of reducing energy consumption and, as a result, its carbon footprint and controlling energy resources efficiently.