Banks work toward sustainability in two different places: in their own operations and in the businesses and projects they finance. The second can reach far beyond a bank’s offices, so a green-finance total or a pledge alone does not show whether the bank’s overall impact is improving. To judge a bank’s claims, look at what it measures, what its targets cover, where its financing goes, and how it reports progress.
What sustainable banking means
Sustainable banking means incorporating environmental and social considerations into a bank’s strategy, risk management, financing decisions, targets and progress reporting. The exact scope depends on the framework and jurisdiction; the term is not a single, universally defined product or certification.
The UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking provide a framework for banks across regions and business types. Their central idea is that banks should assess and manage the impacts of their business, set targets, and report on progress—not treat sustainability as a separate public-relations pledge.
In practice, a bank can pursue sustainability by changing how it operates, changing what it finances, and managing environmental risks that could affect borrowers and the bank itself. Those activities should be assessed separately because success in one does not establish success in the others.
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Where banks can make a difference
Reducing the bank’s own footprint
A bank can reduce emissions from its buildings, energy use, business travel and other operations. These are often called operational emissions. Such reductions matter, but they represent the bank’s own activities—not the emissions associated with the companies and projects it lends to or invests in.
Measuring and managing financed emissions
Financed emissions are emissions associated with activities supported through a bank’s loans and investments. For a bank with a large lending and investment portfolio, this is a distinct and potentially much wider climate issue than its offices or travel. Coverage and calculation methods matter: a figure based on some corporate and real-estate lending, for example, should not be read as covering every loan and investment.
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Banks may also assess climate risks to understand how their portfolios could be affected. Physical risks include flooding; transition risks include changes such as tighter energy-efficiency requirements or carbon costs. These risks can affect borrowers and, in turn, the bank’s portfolio. Handelsbanken describes its climate-impact approach, including financed-emissions coverage and climate-risk analysis, on its climate-impact page.
Financing projects and business transitions
Banks can provide financing for renewable energy, energy-efficient buildings and other eligible environmental projects. They may also issue or arrange green and sustainability bonds, or offer products intended to support clients undertaking transition activity. The World Bank’s toolkit for greening the financial system describes green finance broadly, including financing for climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience, as well as other environmental aims such as biodiversity and nature-based solutions.
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Financing labelled green or sustainable is not, by itself, evidence of a real-world improvement. A volume target says how much financing an institution aims to mobilise under its definition; it does not establish the projects’ outcomes or the effect on the bank’s wider portfolio.
Green loans and sustainability-linked loans are different
Green loans and bonds: follow the proceeds
A green loan or bond generally ties the use of proceeds to eligible green projects under stated criteria or a framework. To assess the claim, check which activities qualify, whether allocations are reported, and whether the issuer reports environmental outcomes. Swedbank’s Sustainable Funding Framework is an example of a bank-published framework readers can examine for its eligibility rules and reporting approach.
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Sustainability-linked loans: follow the targets
A sustainability-linked loan ties some financial terms to a borrower meeting sustainability performance targets. Unlike a use-of-proceeds green loan, it can support general corporate purposes rather than a named green project. Its sustainability case therefore depends heavily on the quality of the borrower’s targets and the accountability around them.
Useful questions include whether the targets address material impacts of the borrower’s business, whether they are ambitious and measurable, and whether progress is transparently reported and credibly verified. An Associated Press investigation published on 15 January 2025 described concerns about some deals, including private contracts, limited disclosure of benchmarks or penalties, and targets critics considered weak. It also reported the counterargument that these loans can encourage companies across sectors to improve. Those concerns do not establish that every sustainability-linked loan is ineffective; they show why the terms and reporting deserve scrutiny. Read the Associated Press investigation.
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What bank-reported figures can—and cannot—show
The figures below illustrate different types of claims. Bank figures are reported by the institutions themselves, not independently verified comparisons. Their definitions, baselines and reporting periods differ, so they should not be treated as a league table.
| Publisher and figure | What it measures | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| HSBC reports a reduction of more than 80% in Scope 1, Scope 2 and business-travel operational emissions since 2019, as at 2025. | Change in specified operational emissions. | This is not a measure of emissions associated with HSBC’s lending and investment portfolio. The figure and scope are reported on HSBC’s sustainability page. |
| HSBC reports $102 billion mobilised in sustainable finance and investment in 2025. | A bank-reported annual mobilisation figure. | It is not, on its own, an outcome measure or a comparison with the bank’s other financing. See HSBC’s reporting and definitions. |
| Santander states a €220 billion green-finance mobilisation target for 2019–2030. | A target over the stated period, not a completed result. | Read the bank’s definition and progress reporting on its climate-transition page. |
| Handelsbanken states that 94% of lending to the public is covered by reported financed emissions from corporate and real-estate lending. | Reported coverage for specified lending categories. | The figure does not say that 94% of all the bank’s financing and investment activity is covered. Handelsbanken states it on its climate-impact page. |
| WRI reports a median green-finance-to-fossil-fuel-finance ratio of 1.3 to 1 for its sample during 2018–2022. | A sample-specific ratio across the institutions covered by WRI’s tracker. | It is a reminder to compare green financing with other financing, not a ratio for every bank. See the WRI Financial Institutions Net Zero Tracker for the sample and methodology. |
These examples answer different questions: operational progress, reported financing volume, a future target, emissions-measurement coverage, and the balance between green and fossil-fuel finance in a particular sample. None alone establishes whether a bank’s whole business is sustainable.
How to assess whether a bank is making credible progress
Use the same questions for each institution, and compare like with like. A bank’s sustainability page is useful for learning what it claims, but it is not an independent evaluation. Check the reporting period, definitions and methodology attached to each figure.
- Check portfolio coverage. Find out which lending, investment and sectors are included in financed-emissions reporting. Look for exclusions and calculation methods; do not assume a figure covers the whole portfolio.
- Examine the targets. Look for a clear baseline, stated scope and method, interim milestones as well as longer-term aims, and reporting against those milestones. A target without a defined perimeter is difficult to assess.
- Ask what the bank counts as green finance. Review the eligibility criteria and what the volume includes. For green loans or bonds, check for allocation reporting and information about outcomes, not only the amount raised or mobilised.
- Consider the wider financing mix. Green-finance totals describe only the financing counted under a bank’s green or sustainable definitions. Consider what the bank also finances, including fossil-fuel activity; WRI’s sample-specific ratio illustrates why this context matters.
- Check accountability for linked loans. For sustainability-linked lending, look for material, ambitious and measurable borrower targets, public progress reporting, and credible verification. Where contract terms, penalties or benchmarks are not disclosed, readers have less information to judge the incentive.
- Look for climate-risk analysis. Check whether the bank explains how it assesses physical and transition risks and how that analysis informs its portfolio decisions and risk management.
- Separate commitments from results. Identify whether a number is a target, financing mobilised during a period, an emissions change against a baseline, or a coverage statistic. These measure different things and should not be used interchangeably.
What a green bank does not prove
A sustainability pledge, a large green-finance total or a reduction in office emissions can be meaningful evidence of a particular action, but none alone proves that a bank has reduced the climate impact of its overall financing. The evidence is stronger when the bank discloses portfolio coverage and methods, sets measurable targets with milestones, reports allocations and outcomes, and explains how its wider financing and risk management fit those commitments.
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