First Bank of Nigeria Limited, in partnership with Proparco, a Development Finance Institution is mainstreaming climate initiatives into its business operations and strategy.
This is aimed at achieving a holistic integration of climate action on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction through an articulated strategic pathway to position the Bank as an African Climate Bank.
The 130-year-old financial institution is currently implementing a mechanism to calculate its operational emissions across all its branches and offices. This includes calculating data on electricity use, diesel use, water consumption, waste management approach, fuel consumption, and business travels, others to determine the Bank’s emission baseline and innovative opportunities for operational emissions reduction.
FirstBank is also developing the required capabilities and competencies by investing in its employees and the right infrastructure for integrating climate action in the Bank.
In a two-day partnership strategy workshop sessions with IPC and Valoris, consultants from Austria engaged by Proparco in the climate mainstreaming project, FirstBank’s climate journey across all areas of implementation was reviewed to determine progress and empower strategic departments across the Bank’s operations, including the Credit Risk teams; Human Capital Management & Development (HCMD); FirstAcademy, the Bank’s learning institute; Corporate Banking; Personal Banking; SME Banking; Procurement; Branch Operations and General Services teams to deepen the understanding of climate risks in their processes.
The six workstreams for the implementation include the identification of financed and avoided emissions to support reporting; supporting the measurement and analysis of operating emissions; integration of physical climate risk assessment; opportunity analysis; climate strategy and policy development; and capacity building amongst staff to support strategy implementation.
Managing Director, Valoris, Austria, Dr. Martin Steindl said, “Amongst our various engagements with financial institutions on climate mainstreaming, FirstBank is the only organization that has been able to provide data both on the assets’ location of their portfolio and head offices of their clients. I am impressed with the progress we have collectively achieved.”
Reinforcing the Bank’s commitment to mainstreaming climate initiatives, the Ag. Chief Risk Officer, FirstBank, Patrick Akhidenor said ‘’FirstBank is intentional about redefining its climate footprint. We are identifying opportunities in climate finance to improve our portfolio and reduce the carbon emissions associated with our processes and operations. The Bank is executing a financed emissions calculation mechanism as well as creating climate finance opportunities, such as renewable energy and energy efficiency products for our customers.”
Nigeria has committed to reducing its GHG emissions to 20 percent by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2060. While this is ambitious, it sets the tone for businesses in Nigeria to at least support their GHG emissions reduction strategy with national plans and targets.
FirstBank is committed to achieving this goal and this is evident as the bank is a signatory to the Africa Business Leaders’ Climate Statement released in 2022 at COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt by the Africa Business Leaders Coalition (ABLC).
About FirstBank
First Bank of Nigeria Limited “FirstBank”, established in 1894, is the premier bank in West Africa, one of the leading financial inclusion service providers in Africa, and a digital banking giant.
FirstBank’s international footprints cut across three continents- Africa, Europe, and Asia, with FirstBank UK Limited in London and Paris; FirstBank in The Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone; FBNBank in Ghana and Senegal; and a FirstBank Representative Office in Beijing, China. All the subsidiary banks are fully registered by their respective Central Banks to provide full banking services.
Besides providing domestic banking services, the subsidiaries also engage in international cross-border transactions with FirstBank’s Non-Nigerian Subsidiaries and the representative offices in Paris and China facilitate trade flows from Asia and Europe into Nigeria and other African countries.