Strategies

The Sustainability Plan is the tool that makes it possible to enhance the historical mission of the BCCs of the BCC Iccrea Group as banks that promote sustainable, responsible development and the pursuit of the common good, according to Article 2 of their articles of association, which is naturally reinterpreted to meet the current expectations of the legislature, the Supervisory Authority and the market.

The commitment of the BCC Iccrea Group is in fact aimed at guiding the transformation, on the one hand consolidating the “bank-customer” relationship and on the other reaffirming the attention to the founding values of cooperative credit closely related to the social, economic and environmental well-being of the communities.

In view of this new context and its role as a community bank, the Sustainability Plan is defined with a strong ambitious to create value for customers, the people who make up the Group and the community.

The Sustainability Plan, defined for a time horizon covering 2025-2027, contemplates the following ESG macro-objectives, distinguished along the three dimensions of sustainability, also including some objectives and actions that cut across two or more ESG factors.

Environment

E1.Dematerialisation
E2.Climate change

Social

S1.Impact analysis
S2.Social responsibility

Governance

G1.ESG culture
G2.Regulatory and operational framework

Transversal

T1.ESG Transition & Advisory
T2.Sustainable finance
T3.Innovation & ICT

In detail, with regard to the environmental component, the Group – aware of the importance of its role as a driver of sustainable transition in the areas where the BCCs operate – will continue its commitment to reduce its own environmental impact as well as that of its members, clients, and financed portfolio. In particular, with respect to the loan portfolio, the Group is engaged in reducing emissions generated in sectors considered to be priorities based on its exposures. In this regard, commercial levers have also been defined with the aim of contributing to the decarbonisation of the Group's portfolio and, therefore, facilitating the transition to a sustainable economy. As regards direct impacts, the Group will continue its efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, both through its corporate fleet and by promoting practices aimed at reducing resources consumption by employees. In this context, specific direct emission reduction targets have also been set to be achieved by 2030.

With regard to the social component, in addition to continuing its support for local areas, communities and the third sector, the Group has defined specific initiatives aimed at promoting inclusive leadership, as well as awareness campaigns for employee on gender, ethnicity and diversity issues. In this context, it is worth highlighting that the Group has assumed specific commitments – to be achieved by 2030 – regarding the increase of women in managerial positions. Furthermore, there are also targets for maintaining the proportion of permanent contracts and the proportion of employees under the age of 30. Finally, initiatives for inclusion and financial education continue, alongside actions aimed at supporting clients in their sustainable transition process.

On the governance side, objectives have been defined with the aim of strengthening the Group's regulatory and operational framework, providing for the definition and updating of various internal policies that have an impact on sustainability management within the Group.

In addition to the specific objectives related to the three pillars of sustainability, the ESG Plan also summarises objectives with a “transversal” impact, i.e. those that affect two or more areas of sustainability.

The achievement of the Group's Sustainability Plan objectives is linked to the implementation of projects, development initiatives and specific actions, some promoted at the Group level and to be implemented in coordination with the Parent Company BCC Banca Iccrea, and others promoted by the individual BCCs in their local territories according to their economic and social specificities.

In this section we describe some of these projects that represent distinctive objectives of the BCC Iccrea Group's approach to sustainable transition with the intention of supporting shareholders and customers in the context of the ongoing transformation.

Project to support SMEs for a sustainable transition

In a market where sustainability is becoming an increasingly decisive factor when it comes to the expectations of end customers, in the supply chain dynamics of companies, and in the impact on business, the BCC Iccrea Group, which has always been committed to supporting local communities and businesses, has set itself a major challenge: that of accompanying its corporate customers in their sustainable transitions.

For companies, knowing their ESG positioning and being able to identify priority actions to improve it are key factors for competing in the market and targeting investments.

To this end, the “OBJECTIVE ESG” portal has been made available to customers - through the affiliated BCCs - as a useful tool for screening their ESG performance with the aim of guiding and prioritising companies' strategies with respect to sustainable transition.

The aim of the platform is to raise awareness and accompany SMEs through the key steps of the ESG transition, allowing companies to get an overall sustainability assessment of the three areas (Environment, Social and Governance) by filling in a questionnaire.

In addition to helping the client company to become more aware of its current sustainability positioning, Objective ESG provides an Action Plan, a simple yet useful tool that suggests priority actions that the company can take to initiate or solidify its sustainable transition.

BCC Innovation Festival: the BCC Group project for start-ups

The cooperative credit banks of the BCC Iccrea Group have always shown a strong commitment to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, offering them financial aid in order to tackle the investments needed for growth and development. Moreover, they are committed to providing an innovation-friendly environment where start-ups can grow and thrive.

This is the context for the BCC Innovation Festival, an initiative organised and promoted by the BCCs of the BCC Iccrea Group with the aim of identifying new ideas capable of giving rise to innovative enterprises to be supported in their growth and market positioning.

The BCC Innovation Festival offers the winners incubation and acceleration support depending on their level of maturity in order to define winning strategies, refine business strategies, optimise monetisation models and prepare for success in the market, including by offering international visibility.

Follow all the innovation of the BCC Iccrea Group.

The Project for the establishment and financing of Renewable Energy Communities (RECs)

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - an action programme of the United Nations - includes the objective of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy systems for all among its 17 goals and 169 targets.

Indeed, Goal 7 “Affordable and clean energy” refers to the dissemination of renewable energy sources, i.e. the decarbonisation process to move from an economy based on the use of fossil fuels to an affordable, efficient economic system centred on renewable energy.

The BCC Iccrea Group, together with Federcasse, set up a working table to oversee issues related to the development of local Renewable Energy Communities (RECs). This was done to coordinate and support the Group's BCCs with regard to a broadly expanding phenomenon involving our banks, also in light of increasing requests for interest and cooperation.

The focus on Renewable Energy Communities and the energy transition is a further example of how the BCC Iccrea Group and its BCCs can stand by local SMEs and families, supporting them in the challenge of sustainability.

In fact, initiating the design of a REC is a complex process that requires a variety of actors and professional skills. Our BCCs can play an important role in supporting their local communities, from being promoters of their shareholders and stakeholders to financing the construction of the system itself, not to mention supporting the production of energy through their own properties.

The Project to support businesses through the NRRP

Within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the Group and its member BCCs have set aside €2.5 billion to finance the development projects of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises over the Plan's time horizon and to support them in accessing resources of the recovery plan. The Group then published a website (https://pnrr.gruppobcciccrea.it) to inform and illustrate the Plan's opportunities and supporting initiatives to corporate customers.

To further expand on the opportunities offered under the NRRP, the Group also finalised a framework agreement with FinService, a leading company in the subsidised finance sector, with the aim of supporting Italian companies in this specific area. Finally, the Group has made a portal dedicated to NRRP tenders available to its BCCs called “BCC NRRP RADAR”, which allows BCCs to act proactively on behalf of their corporate customers, identifying the most suitable subsidised finance opportunities and discussing them with customers.

From the outset, the NRRP project envisaged the activation of a dedicated task force within the Chief Business Officer Area to support BCCs in the tourism, agribusiness, structured finance, energy project, Public Private Partnership, foreign, transaction banking and third sector domains..