As a transition enabler, Spuerkeess plans to contribute to the national target of electrifying 49% of Luxembourg’s car fleet by 2030. Thus, since 2018, the Bank has included electric vehicles in its Lease Plus offer, and these now account for 80% of the leases taken out by the Bank's customers. This very strong interest in electric cars is partly due to the desire to "consume better and more sustainably", but is also due to our attractive Lease Plus offers. Emir Mustafic, Business Developer - Private Lease at Spuerkeess, gives us the criteria to be taken into account when buying or leasing an electric vehicle.
Carbon neutrality: what is it and how can we achieve it by 2050?
Following the adoption of the European Climate Act, the European Union is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. What does this mean for a bank? And how has Spuerkeess decided to help achieve this neutrality? We put these questions to Luigi Garofoli, Deputy Head of Business Unit Corporate Banking, to find out what the Bank has done to this end for its professional customers.
When we talk about ESG risks, what risks are these?
As a bank, we are exposed to ESG risks, as are our customers and their businesses. By ESG we mean the environmental, social and governance aspects of our activities.
Spuerkeess faces transitional risks related to our reputation, regulations and market trends. From a regulatory perspective, we are required to identify and manage the ESG risks we face. The financing of our customers, who are active in sectors that are highly damaging to our planet, will have to be nuanced and tailored, taking into account the ESG risks incurred.
That's why our products and services must adapt to the changing preferences of our customers, so that we can continue to meet their needs, even in the future.
Spuerkeess is also exposed to physical risks, linked to severe climatic events such as floods and/or droughts, which may affect our counterparties and the projects they finance, thus representing a more significant credit risk for the Bank.
What is Spuerkeess doing to limit these risks at the corporate level?
In a context where E, S and G issues are becoming increasingly important, Spuerkeess is in the process of finalising its transition plan (including the decarbonisation plan), in which it will present the areas and activities where decisions can be made that will have a positive impact at the ESG level.
Who better than a bank to help its customers make the energy transition?
To provide a quantifiable overview of our customers' ESG maturity, we have decided to make a free digital tool available to our corporate customers. It consists of a questionnaire that allows them to take stock of the environmental, social and governance situation within their entity.
ESG regulations are constantly evolving and from 2026, all clients meeting certain predefined criteria will be required to publish a non-financial report, in accordance with the CSRD directive.
Our simplified ESG questionnaire will represent real added value for these customers, because once completed, our tool will enable them to generate a simplified report, covering the themes that are required by the CSRD, but in lesser detail. They can then use the results as the basis for a full report.
The requirement to provide ESG data is not limited solely to companies subject to these regulations, but also to their counterparties in their value chain, regardless of the size of these counterparties.
To facilitate this type of reporting and comply with new market requirements, our tool will enable our customers to centralise all their ESG data and generate a report that can be provided to their commercial, banking or other partners. Participation in certain public tenders also requires the submission of ESG data, a need that can also be met by completing our questionnaire.
Our primary objective is to prepare our clients for the new ESG regulatory and market requirements, and to do so free of charge.
In order to test this, a pilot phase was launched at the end of June 2024, during which we selected 10 of our customers, who are active in the most GHG-emitting sectors and of varying ESG maturity.
From 2025, which companies will be affected by the CSRD regulations requiring the publication of a non-financial report?
Companies meeting two of the three following criteria are covered by the directive:
- more than 250 employees,
- with turnover in excess of EUR 50 million and/or
- with a balance sheet total of more than EUR 25 million,
They must comply with strict sustainability reporting requirements.
Others, particularly smaller SMEs, are not directly subject to these regulations. However, it is important to bear in mind that if these SMEs are part of the value chain of companies subject to the CSRD, they will be asked to provide ESG data to these companies so that the latter may complete their report. In this case, the simplified report provided by Spuerkeess may suffice to meet the market's expectations in terms of ESG transparency and responsibility.
From 2026, the listed SMEs will also be subject to this directive, as will other large non-European companies from 2028.
Who are the players involved in this programme, and who will be working with Spuerkeess to support customers in their sustainable approach?
What is your assessment of this pilot phase?
The pilot phase was very interesting and gave us the opportunity to get some initial feedback from our customers on our Transition Enabler programme, and more specifically on our simplified ESG questionnaire. This feedback proved to be very positive. Spuerkeess is the first bank to deploy such a standardised, general questionnaire for its customers.
The customers in the pilot phase appreciated our approach, in particular the fact that they were able to discuss with their Bank on such an important issue that was still relatively new to them.
They benefited free of charge from a tool that enabled them, via the questionnaire results, to identify their ESG weaknesses and draw up a transition plan to improve on certain specific aspects, which was greatly appreciated.
Timing was judged to be good, given the regulatory deadlines and the low average maturity of the market.
And finally, the Chamber of Trades, the House of Sustainability and the Chamber of Commerce, as well as the other players in our ecosystem, have positively welcomed our approach.
This pilot project has enabled us to consolidate the progress of our CSRD alignment, while strengthening our compliance with regulatory requirements. Thanks to the openness and constructive spirit of the Spuerkeess team, which valued our feedback, we were able to define concrete solutions to ensure smooth and efficient reporting that will benefit all parties.
IKO