Sustainabilitymanagement

How we do it

Sustainability management

At ING, we conduct business in an ethical, responsible and sustainable way. This is due to our values, defined in Orange Code. We understand that our actions affect many stakeholder groups.

We respect the human rights. This is a basic, universal value that is reflected in particular aspects of our business. We know that our responsibility is to support diversity and equal opportunities.

We act in accordance with international standards - the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the principles of the United Nations Global Compact. We are a signatory of the Diversity Charter.

We feel responsible for our impact on society, the environment and the economy, we actively work to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We implement the commitments of the Green Statement 2021 of the ING Bank Śląski S.A. Group. The directions of our commitment to sustainable development are set out in the ESG Strategy of the ING Bank Śląski S.A. Group.

Below we present strategic decisions in the area of environmental commitments, including climate commitments, resulting from the above-mentioned documents.

  • By the end of 2025, we will steadily downsize (until total repayment) the current credit exposures extended to individual coal power plants.
  • After 2025, we will not provide funding to clients running business directly based on thermal coal in more than 5%.
  • By the end of 2023 we will have allocated PLN 4.5 billion in the corporate area for financing of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and green projects.
  • By the end of 2023 we will have allocated PLN 500 million for providing support to local government units in their investments in green projects.
  • Further support and promotion of electromobility, cooperation with partners in the construction of charging stations and promotion of using electric vehicles included. By the end of 2023, ING Lease Polska will provide PLN 300 million of financing for electric/hybrid vehicles.
  • In the individual clients segment, we will implement an offer for financing prosumer energy projects.
  • We will set up a grant fund of PLN 2 million annually for start-ups and young Polish scientists to implement sustainable development projects.
  • By 2040, we will have reduced the share of our funding provided to the fossil fuel industry (coal excluded as we do not fund it) by 19% as compared to 2019.

New committees

In 2022, the Management Board of ING Bank Śląski established two committees in the organizational structure of the bank: ESG Council and ESG Risk Committee. These committees perform decision-making functions in the area of ESG, including issues related to climate change, for all organizational units of the bank and advisory functions for the Management Board for matters requiring its approval.

ESG Council

The mission of the ESG Council is to create the right ecosystem to make ESG an important, sustainable and inherent element for the entire organization.

The ESG Council oversees the progress and consistency of activities and communication throughout the organization in the area of ESG and sustainable development.

The tasks of the committee include, among others:

  • approving the ESG Strategy as well as actions and measures for the implementation of strategic goals
  • monitoring the progress of activities and the achievement of goals in the implementation of the ESG Strategy, including the work carried out under the ESG Transformation Program.

The chairman of the ESG Council is the CEO of ING Bank Śląski. The ESG Council is composed of the entire Management Board of the bank and heads of areas that have the greatest impact on the implementation of ESG objectives.

ESG Council meetings are held every two months.

In 2022, the Centre of Expertise ESG Innovation was established in the bank, which coordinates activities related to the development and implementation of the ESG Strategy and the functioning of the ESG Council. It also works to strengthen ESG awareness and culture and to develop employees' knowledge in this area. The combination of competences in the area of ESG and innovation allows to effectively support business in the implementation of innovative solutions in line with the idea of sustainable development.

ESG Risk Committee

In 2022, the ESG Risk Committee was established in the form of a standing committee.

The main tasks of the ESG Risk Committee are to create the ESG risk management policy, to approve the ESG risk management methodology, to approve the tools used for ESG risk assessment, to define the standards of ESG risk credit analysis and the course of the ESG risk assessment and monitoring process, as well as the rules for including ESG risk in collateral valuation.

As part of the CRO Division, an ESG Risk Team was established within the Risk Regulation Department responsible for ESG risk management and initiating and coordinating further activities aimed at comprehensive implementation of this risk management to the existing credit, market, liquidity and operational risk management system and meeting the expectations indicated in the supervisory documents.

ESG Risk Management

The Management Board of our bank, the Supervisory Board and the management staff emphasize the issue of risk and opportunity identification and ESG risk management in the bank.

About risk management

In accordance with the approach presented in the ECB Guide on climate-related and environmental risks 2020 and the EBA Report on management and supervision of ESG risks for credit institutions and investment firms 2021, our bank does not treat ESG risk as a separate risk category, but as a factor reinforcing basic risk categories (credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk and financing risk, as well as non-financial risk).

We define ESG risk as the risk of a negative financial impact of ESG factors on the bank - the risk of their direct or indirect impact (indirect - through the impact of these factors on the bank's clients/contractors).

We manage ESG risk by including mechanisms for its identification, measurement, assessment, mitigation, monitoring and reporting to standard processes as part of credit, market, liquidity and funding risk management as well as non-financial risk.

Due to the exceptional nature of this risk (expected intensification of this risk in the future), the bank adapted its organizational structure to manage it in the best possible way and to ensure effective supervision over it and to ensure the intensity of work related to the implementation of mechanisms for managing this risk.

In 2022, the Supervisory Board approved the Risk Management Strategy, in which the key objectives for 2022-2024 include the continuation of activities aimed at better identification, measurement and assessment of ESG risk, as well as activities to ensure compliance of the bank's policies, procedures and processes with the requirements resulting from external regulations.

Supervision over ESG risk management was entrusted to the Member of the Bank's Management Board supervising the CRO Division.

Interdisciplinary cooperation and knowledge sharing

In order to achieve the objectives of the ESG Strategy, we have adopted two approaches.

The ESG Transformation Program

It was established to implement new, complex, multi-threaded tasks. 

About program

The ESG Transformation Program

The program allows us to efficiently coordinate activities that require the participation of many organizational units and to obtain added value resulting from the cooperation of people working in various areas on a daily basis.

The Core ESG Team of the Program includes representatives of all the bank's divisions: business lines, risk, finance, operations, IT, HR and subsidiaries.

The program supports us in the transformation to the target model of our involvement in ESG issues.

Interdisciplinary teams – guilds

Here are implemented relatively homogeneous topics, which we have been continuing for a long time and where we have already reached the appropriate level of maturity.

About guilds

Interdisciplinary teams – guilds

They ensure the continuity of work and their synergy. The essence of the guild is the cooperation of teams composed of people from different areas of the organization, the exchange of knowledge and the continuation of initiatives resulting directly from the ESG Strategy.

Interdisciplinary teams - guilds - were established in three areas: friendly and diverse workplace, financial health of clients and activities for the benefit of society.

Both the ESG Transformation Program and individual ESG guilds report to the ESG Council.