First Bank of Nigeria, in partnership with Proparco, a development finance institution, has begun mainstreaming climate initiatives into business operations and strategy.

This aims to achieve a holistic integration of climate action on Greenhouse gas emissions reduction to strategically position First Bank as an African climate bank.

Folake Ani-Mumuney, First Bank’s group head of marketing and corporate communications, said this in a statement on Saturday.

Ms Ani-Mumuney said FirstBank’s climate journey across all implementation areas was reviewed during a two-day partnership strategy workshop.

She said the partnership was with IPC and Valoris, Austrian consultants engaged by Proparco in the climate mainstreaming project. The bank’s spokeswoman said the review was to determine progress and empower various departments of First Bank to deepen their understanding of climate risks in their processes.

She listed six workstreams for the implementation, including identifying financed and avoided emissions to support reporting and supporting the measurement and analysis of operating emissions.

Others included integrating physical climate risk assessment, opportunity analysis, climate strategy and policy development, and capacity building amongst staff to support strategy implementation.

Dr Martin Steindl, managing director of Valoris, Austria, also said First Bank was the most organised financial institution for climate mainstreaming.

“Amongst our various engagements with financial institutions on climate mainstreaming, FirstBank is the only organisation 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,” he said.

Also, First Bank’s acting chief risk officer, Patrick Akhidenor, reinforced the bank’s commitment to mainstreaming climate initiatives.

Mr 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 greenhouse gas emissions to 20 per cent by 2030 and net zero by 2060. While this is ambitious, it sets the tone for businesses in Nigeria to at least support their emissions reduction strategy with national plans and targets.

First Bank, 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, is committed to achieving the goals.

(NAN)