The KBC Group Executive Committee has adopted a new group-wide Climate Change Policy. With this policy:

KBC undertakes to:

Ü     Focus on energy efficiency in its daily operations;

Ü     Offset greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted by its commuter travel lease fleet;

Ü     Monitor and - wherever possible - support research in news trends in science and technology;

Ü     Stimulate awareness among and education for its employees and, beyond that, for the upcoming generation.

And to pay increased attention to:

Ü     Its impact on climate change through the products and services it offers its customers (e.g., implementing ‘green' credit products, promoting socially responsible investment products, developing insurance cover connected with the climate or climate-change-related risks);

Ü     Its choice of suppliers (e.g., the group will assess its suppliers - and their products and/or services - also on criteria related to climate change);

Ü     Reporting to all stakeholders on a regular, accessible and qualitative basis on CSR-related topics such as climate change. 

Climate Change is not just another bad dream that goes away when we wake up. It is real, is happening now and will have a major environmental, economic and social impact on everyone's life. There is no denying that. The KBC group aims to be strongly embedded in the local communities in which it operates. It acknowledges and shares the same concerns, including the challenge that is climate change. At the end of October 2011, Jan Vanhevel, KBC Group CEO, signed the ‘2°C Challenge Communiqué', to emphasise the group's support of the climate change issue. This communiqué calls on governments around the world to break the deadlock in international negotiations. All companies that sign up to the statement ask political leaders to reach an international agreement, take action at national level and draw up ambitious national policy frameworks.

Jan Vanhevel, KBC Group CEO welcomed the new Climate Change Policy, commenting as follows: ‘In our approach to climate change, we aim further than just supporting an external initiative such as the ‘2°C Challenge Communiqué'. From now on, we wish to address climate change more consciously and actively, starting with implementing our own climate change policy. We also undertake to actively look for new opportunities to reduce our indirect impact. For example, we are investigating how to create financial products and services that take account of climate change. More specifically, we are looking at opportunities in our lending business, in our range of socially responsible investment products, in our insurance and re-insurance business, and in our relationship with and choice of suppliers.'

See also video message on www.kbc.com/csr

Additional information on KBC's CSR strategy

This new climate change policy is part of KBC's overall CSR action plan approved by the group's Executive Committee. This plan is intended to gradually embed CSR more deeply within the group. Besides a more formal approach, KBC also wishes to increase awareness about CSR among its employees and encourage them to get involved in CSR-related initiatives. Implementing the climate change policy is a first major project in this area.

To enable all stakeholders to keep up with KBC's progress as regards climate change, KBC will report on any action/initiatives taken to reduce its impact on the environment, including the outcome of such action or initiative, in the KBC CSR Report, Carbon Disclosure Project and other reports. (www.kbc.com)