Swedbank signed the the UN Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) in 2019. The Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) provide a sustainability framework that serves as guidance for Swedbank’s operations and align the bank’s strategic direction with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Analysis of Swedbank's impact

The portfolio-wide impact assessment was updated in 2021 with a focus on principle 2, impact and objectives. The impact analysis shows how Swedbank, through the it's products and services, affects various sustainability areas from UN Impact Radar, which PRB uses to define sustainability areas. The analysis includes both positive and negative impacts. The results provide an opportunity to understand and analyse how Swedbank influences and creates value for the bank’s stakeholders and society at large, and are used to supplement Swedbank’s materiality analysis.

Results of the analysis

The results of the analysis show that Swedbank, through its business, plays an important role in society and its development. PRB has defined areas based on where the bank has an impact, and the areas below are the ones where Swedbank has its biggest positive impact:  

• housing
• inclusive and sound economies
• employment

The Bank’s positive impact in the area of housing is based on increased access to housing opportunities, for example in the form of financing to private individuals and construction and real estate companies.

Swedbank contributes positively to inclusive and sound economies by increasing the availability of secure financial services and employment in particular to sectors such as real estate and manufacturing.

This in turn generates a positive impact on the Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth 
• SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

The results also show that Swedbank, through its business, has an important obligation to limit its own negative impacts:

• mainly in environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity, waste and resource efficiency. 

Within the environmental areas, Swedbank is also able to make a positive impact in terms of livelihoods. The following sectors offer the potential for improvement:

• the real estate
• manufacturing
• agricultural, forestry and fishing sectors
• in certain parts of the energy sector.
  

Resource efficiency and a reduced climate impact are important areas that impact the Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 12 Sustainable Consumption and Production 
• SDG 13 Climate Action.