Environment

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Environment work at NOBA

NOBA acknowledge the important role a financial institution can have reducing emissions and adopting service offerings and implementing a sustainability strategy that aligns with regulations and match consumer-demand for green products. NOBA, like the European Banking Authority (EBA), are convinced that financial institutions are an important source of sustainable finance.

In NOBA´s double materiality assessment, the area “Climate Change” is identifying as material, meaning that this is an area that we will report and focus on in our sustainability work.

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Green loan offering

NOBA launched our first green loan through the brand Bank Norwegian in 2022, after the completion and assessment of a customer survey on how our products and services could become more sustainable. After the result of the customer survey, NOBA developed green lending products for electric cars and electric bikes.

In 2023, NOBA also launched green loans to providing incentives for customers to invest in energy-efficient homes, introducing incentives to energy efficiency measures in customers’ existing homes. Our green loans framework is governed by our General Credit Policy, Credit Instruction mortgage loans Sweden, Credit Policy for Svensk Hypotekspension (equity release), Instruction for classification and reporting of green equity release loans and the Branch Credit Instruction.

With the introduction of green loans, we will, to a larger extent, understand our customers use of proceeds contributing to climate change mitigation.

Green mortgages

NOBA provide mortgages with a beneficial interest rate, without limitation towards the lowest interest rate, if the secured house has an energy classification of A or B at Boverket (“The Housing Authority” in English).

Green equity release mortgages

NOBA offers customers over 60 years old, a beneficial interest rate for loans if the secured home has an energy classification of A or B at Boverket (“The Housing Authority” in English).

Green equity release loans for energy investments

NOBA provides loans with a beneficial interest rate to customers over 60 years old aiming to invest in energy efficiency measures, such as geothermal heating and solar panels.

Green loans for electric cars and electric bikes

NOBA offers green loans for customers that buy electric car or electric bike with a beneficial interest rate.

Carbon Accounting

The carbon accounting of a company is usually calculated by using the international standard Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and is done by breaking down the emissions into three scopes:

  • Scope 1: the direct emissions your company causes,
  • Scope 2: the emissions from the energy you buy,
  • Scope 3: all the other indirect emissions tied to your business activities, from the supply chain to the disposal of your products.

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NOBAS carbon accounting

NOBA started to do a carbon accounting for the first time 2022 by using the international standard Greenhouse Gas Protocol and calculate our carbon footprint for scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. In 2023, NOBA also begun reporting on scope 3 emissions to get a more comprehensive carbon calculation. We have further developed our understanding of where our emissions originate, and thereby where we have an environmental impact.

As other financial institutions, we have identified the category “Investments”, that is one of the categories under scope 3, to be the largest source of emissions with a total of 96 percent of our emissions. Included in this category is our mortgages, car loans and exposures of assets in sovereign bonds.

A large part of NOBA’s business is consumer loans. However, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol currently provides limited guidance on how to calculate financed emissions relating to consumer loans. Our ambition is to monitor all relevant frameworks for carbon accounting as well as developing our internal governance on financed emissions to ensure that we take responsibility for our emissions. We continue to analyze what mitigating efforts we can implement in our own organization to further lower our emissions.


NOBAs carbon accounting

Carbon offsetting

Carbon offsetting is a carbon trading mechanism that enables entities to compensate for offset greenhouse gas emissions by investing in projects that reduce, avoid, or remove emissions elsewhere.

In previous years NOBA has offset the emissions relating to paper consumption. In 2023, when we expand our carbon accounting to include our Scope 3 emissions, we increase the scope of our carbon offset to also include the categories relating to our business travel and employee commuting.

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Climate Instruction

NOBA have a Climate Instruction in place that serves as the basis for ways of working with our climate commitments in a practical sense and establishes key actions as well as mechanisms for monitoring and following up on internal compliance. Information relating to NOBA’s environmental activities can also be found in the instruction. The Climate Instruction governs our work to mitigate risks and leverage opportunities that climate change presents for our business.

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EU Taxonomy Report

What is the EU Taxonomy?

The EU Taxonomy Regulation (EU) 2020/852 is an EU wide framework with criteria for defining environmentally sustainable economic activities. In accordance with the Taxonomy, an economic activity is environmentally sustainable, i.e. Taxonomy aligned, if it makes a substantial contribution to one or more of the six environmental objectives set out in the Taxonomy, while at the same time not making any significant harm to any of the other objectives, as well as complying with minimum safeguards as defined in the Taxonomy.

However, the reporting requirements are being implemented in several phases and hence the data availability on Taxonomy alignment is not complete.

NOBA´s EU Taxonomy Report

NOBA have report in accordance with the EU Taxonomy as part of the sustainability reporting since 2022. The exposure is primarily based on NOBA’s lending and investment activities. NOBA only provides loans to private customers which means that the applicability of the Taxonomy criteria is very limited compared to banks with corporate lending where the Taxonomy alignment is based on the Taxonomy alignment of the corporate receiving the loan. In NOBA’s case, Taxonomy eligibility and alignment can only be assessed for loans where NOBA has detailed information about the use of the loan.

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NOBA Bank Group AB (publ)
Gävlegatan 22
113 30 Stockholm

Org.nr 556647-7286
Registered Office: Stockholm

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