When we speak about climate change, we often make the mistake of thinking that it is a problem that doesn't really affect us in our everyday lives. We perceive the one or two degree increase in the global temperature, the melting of the ice caps and the rise of several centimetres in the sea level as remote issues that do not have an impact on our health, our economy and our leisure. In this article we tell you about some evidence that global warming of the planet is here and worsening our life quality. Conscious that climate change is a genuine concern, right here and right now, Santander has a plan to be a net zero emission bank by 2050.
There are impacts resulting from climate change that we are already suffering, even though we may be unaware of this or prefer to ignore them. The increase in greenhouse gases is making some outdoor work almost unbearable due to heatwaves, which are also causing increasingly fearsome droughts and fires, including in the first world. They are realities that we often see on the television while enjoying a comfortable environment created by our air conditioning, whose indiscriminate and widespread use remains one of the factors that causes the very problem that attempts are being made to highlight.
What is climate change?
We use these two words to describe the Earth’s changing weather patterns as a result of human activity and the natural climate cycle. Climate change is now one of the most important challenges the world is facing. If nothing is done to stop it, it will threaten our future.
Without realising, we are all suffering in our everyday lives, and as a direct or indirect result of climate change, impacts that make life more difficult and even hamper our ability to carry out activities with the same freedom we enjoyed several years ago. An article from Global Citizen, a global citizen movement established in 2012 to end extreme poverty by 2030 and act in defence of the planet, provides us with several examples:
Santander in the fight against climate change
The fight against climate change, therefore, is everyone's responsibility. And to make progress it is necessary to start by taking small steps, both at home and in the workplace.
Santander, as part of its commitment to be net zero in carbon emissions by 2050, has adopted agreements in areas that affect the day-to-day activities of any company, such as ensuring that 100% of the electricity it uses is from renewable sources in all the countries in which it operates by 2025 and eliminating unnecessary single-use plastics in its branches and buildings.
of the electricity we consume is from green sources by 2025
of the electricity we consume is from green sources by 2025
These are decisions that are achievable for any person or company. For companies, as they grow in size, as is the case for Santander, so do their ambitions for the fight against climate change and the actions that are taken. Since 2020, the bank has achieved carbon neutrality across its own business and has offset emissions through five projects that have been certified as meeting recognised international standards, such as the Gold Standard, the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
At the same time, Santander has pledged to support all its customers in reducing their carbon emissions, driving society's transition to a green society through a significant funding effort and by offering a range of green products.