KUWAIT: Underscoring its pioneering role and corporate approach to fully integrate sustainability into the core of its business activities and operations, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has released its Sustainability Report for 2023, highlighting the key milestones achieved and contributions made towards implementing its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Strategy over the past year.

The Eighth Annual Sustainability Report showcases the strategic initiatives implemented by NBK during 2023 in relation to compliance with ESG standards, material issues, opportunities, challenges, and the noticeable progress made in its strides towards a sustainable future, which it embarked on since 2016. It also brings into focus the commitments it is determined to fulfill going forward.

The report also presents a holistic perspective on NBK’s strategic approach to sustainability, which aims to positively impact the communities it serves, while driving sustainable growth in line with global best practices. In this report, NBK reinforces its commitment to increasing value creation opportunities for all through a range of actions aimed at reducing environment impact, accelerating the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy, promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, and empowering communities by making banking accessible for all.

The 2023 report is centered around the four pillars of NBK’s ESG Strategy Framework, formulated to tackle the critical issues that matter most to our stakeholders and are of significance to our business. The report outlines the achievements made in relation to each of these four pillars (Governance for Resilience; Responsible Banking; Capitalizing on Our Capabilities; and Investing in our Communities), and the related material issues, initiatives implemented, and future goals and targets.

Notably, NBK Sustainability Report for 2023 is aligned to both domestic and global sustainability or ESG reporting standards and frameworks including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG), the UN Global Compact (UNGC), Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and Boursa Kuwait’s ESG Reporting Guidelines. To promote transparency and accountability in the banking sector, NBK obtained independent third-party verifications to the alignment of the 2023 report with the GRI standards, as well as the conformity of its GHG footprint for 2023 with the GHG Protocol.

Sustainable finance

Among the achievements highlighted in the report, the Bank’s Sustainable Assets reached $3.65 billion as of Dec 31, 2023, representing more than 36 percent of 2030 $10 billion target. This includes designated financing and lending to our clients to support them achieve their environmental and social goals, investments in sustainable financing instruments, in addition to investing in the bank’s physical assets that have an environmental or social impact.

In this context, NBK increased its investments in green assets through extending financial support for a wide array of environmental projects that focus on renewable energy, clean transport, green buildings, and sustainable water and wastewater management cross various sectors, in efforts to accelerate the achievement of the UN SDGs.

The sustainability and sustainable finance landscapes are rapidly evolving as new research, regulations, frameworks, standards, and tools emerge globally. In 2023, NBK invested in the capacity building of its client-facing employees to ensure they are equipped with the requisite knowledge they need to proactively support clients through their own transition plans, providing 108 training hours in sustainable finance to 36 key champions. The report also highlights the new sustainable products launched for our retail consumers in 2023,expanding our consumer offerings to include eco- friendly electric vehicles (EV) and housing loans in partnership with prominent car dealers and sustainable product providers in Kuwait. By choosing any of the loans, consumers are now able to gain an advantage from competitive interest rates that are lower than the current commercial schemes, whilst benefiting from innovative and energy-efficient solutions.

Strong governance

Fundamental to effective implementation of the ESG strategy, the report presents the ESG governance framework NBK has developed and which the Board has approved. This dynamic ESG governance framework consists of a Sustainability and Climate Change (S&CC) Committee and five sub-committees, operating under the Board of Directors’ oversight, responsible for managing ESG-related matters. The S&CC Committee and its five Sub-Committees convened several times during FY2023 to establish mandate and formalize the ESG Strategy Roadmap for FY2023-2025.

Instrumental to governance resilience is adequate management of climate-related risks and opportunities. NBK adeptly manages ESG trade-offs concerning strategic and operational decisions. In this context, NBK institutionalized alignment with the recommendations of Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) during the year and developed a roadmap for adequately integrating climate-related matters in the bank’s enterprise risk management framework. We are establishing formal systems to identify, assess, and manage climate and ESG-related risks and opportunities associated with our activities and business relationships.

Environmental stewardship

The report also sheds light on the progress made in reducing environmental impact and improving resource management, highlighting the notable reduction achieved in overall disclosed GHG emissions by 10.43 percent compared to our 2021 baseline year, in addition to the reduction of electricity consumption by 5.75 percent YoY and 15.8 percent compared to our 2021 baseline year. To effectively manage environmental impact from operations, NBK implemented Building Energy Management System (BEMS) in 22 standalone local branches and approved the installation of solar panels in 24 branches by 2025.

On the same note, the report presents NBK’s responsible waste management practices, which includes recycling 99.25 metric tons of paper, representing 87 percent of total paper usage. The recycling of paper resulted in saving 1,687 trees, 406,921 kWh of energy, and 694,743 gallons of water.

Work environment

Considering the working environment as a key aspect for fostering long-term organization success, the report highlights the Bank’s ongoing efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, its sustainable approach to employee development and engagement, and promoting employee well-being. In 2023, women representation reached 44 percent of the total workforce, with 28.8 percent in managerial positions. ESG-related training hours reached 3,306 hours, with a focus on Sustainability Awareness, Sustainable Finance, and Climate Risk Management. NBK also took proactive steps in developing a Staff Complaint and Grievance Policy to promote a safe, transparent, and open working environment. We prioritized employee health and wellbeing through various targeted initiatives and enhanced policies, including providing employees with on-site specialized medical advice at NBK Clinic.

Supply chain

The report also underscores NBK’s commitment to fully integrating ESG standards across the supply chain, as of 2023, local suppliers represented 70 percent of NBK’s total suppliers, and local procurement expenditure accounted for 84 percent of total procurement spending. NBK has also revised its procurement policy with the inclusion of ESG principles, implementing a more sustainable procurement strategy and methodology.

Community investments

Community Investments totaled KD 28 million in 2023, a 22 percent increase from 2022, which includes committing KD 3.0 million for the restructuring of Shuwaikh Beach Waterfront in line with NBK’s corporate social responsibility and sustainability principles. Approximately 56 percent of NBK’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributions were directed towards initiatives aimed at providing youth with market exposure, valuable experience, and essential financial knowledge. NBK’s instrumental efforts were recognized with the award “Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility in the Middle East 2023” by Euromoney.

NBK continues to foster financial inclusion, accessibility, and literacy, facilitating KD 20 million in 2023 to small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), achieving a 12 percent yoy growth. This is coupled with the official launch of the ‘Bankee’ financial literacy program in Kuwait’s public and private schools, with 15,940 students and around 3,400 teachers participating.

In efforts to foster and nurture local talent, Kuwaitization rate reached 76.7 percent as of Dec 31, 2023. Approximately 70 percent of management positions at NBK were occupied by Kuwaiti citizens within the reporting period. A key factor in increasing our Kuwaitization percentage is through new employee hires. In 2023, 84.5 percent of our newly-hired employees were Kuwaiti.