Climate action: the SDG with the greatest lag in the banking

According to the First Sustainable Development Report of the Banking Sector in Mexico, carried out jointly by the Association of Banks of Mexico (ABM) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) more neglected by banks in the country is number 13, Climate Action. Although it is understood that banking does not affect all the SDGs in the same way, number 13 presents a notable delay when compared to the contribution registered in other of the objectives of the 2030 Agenda. The report states that all banking institutions in Mexico allocated 2.3 million pesos to climate action, a figure that contrasts with the contribution allocated to SDG 10, Reduction of inequalities, to which 233,842 were channeled. millions of pesos. In this regard, Irma Beatriz Acosta Pedregal, coordinator of the ABM Social Responsibility Committee, explained that “what we report is what the banks are directly contributing to our internal programs. Programs we have for Social Responsibility and Human Resources. “There was no discussion of the contributions that this area makes indirectly.

During the presentation of the report, in which specialists from ABM and UNDP participated, it was highlighted that the five SDGs that had the greatest contribution from said sector were: SDG 10. Reduction of inequalities (233,842 million pesos) SDG 1. End of poverty (233,800 million pesos) SDG 9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure (69,000 million pesos) SDG 8. Decent work (26,894 million pesos) SDG17. Economic growth and alliances to achieve the objectives (37,850 million pesos) In this context, the president of the ABM, Luis Niño de Rivera, indicated that “for years, the ABM has been developing its Social Responsibility Report, but this year it was possible to diagnose and point out that this sector contributes significantly to the 17 objectives Special Database of the ABM. Agenda 2030”. The methodology used to create this report consisted of the creation and development of a questionnaire that was sent to the institutions of the country's banking sector, through the ABM, and which considered three aspects of the organizations: social responsibility programs, commercial products and internal human resources policies aligned with the objectives and goals of the Agenda.



However, “the results were provided by the banks and not verified by the UNDP; starting from the scoop that the answers provided by the banking institutions in the questionnaire are true and justified in reality,” added Mariana Villasuso Téllez Girón, UNDP Project Coordinator. Téllez Girón assured that 88 of the 169 goals established in the 2030 Agenda require an active role from the private sector for their fulfillment and that is why the exercise carried out with this report is very important. "We are aware that companies have to evolve in their policies, practices and programs as well as the need to generate a transformation of their business models to not only expect monetary wealth in exchange for goods and services, but to generate an impact environmental and in people's lives," he pointed out. Finally, she warned that the challenges that banking must address are: the increase in the participation of women in management positions of banking institutions in Mexico; the creation of programs that, beyond falling into philanthropy, ensure the sustainability of both the initiative and the population to which it is directed, and the development, creation and modification of internal policies for the optimization of natural resources by part of the banks.