Side 2
2 SYDBANK / CSR Report 2020
Side 3
Preface Raising the bar By Karen Frøsig, CEO of Sydbank We take our responsibility seriously at Sydbank – and that’s why we will take action now and we will do it properly. This is how last year’s report started and in many respects these promises provided the framework for the year’s sustainability agenda at Sydbank. When I say we will do it properly it means that Sydbank’s ambition is to focus on sustainability as an embedded part of our business. Our sustainability efforts will continue to focus on the challenges in society that are closest to our core business. This is where we have the greatest responsibility and where we can make the biggest difference. In order to live up to our promise we stepped up our ambitions and actions in 2020. This should hopefully be clear when you have read the CSR report but I would still like to highlight the initiatives I am particularly proud of having achieved in 2020. Forerunner in equality In 2020 Sydbank took part in a survey of women’s opportunities to move into management positions in the financial sector that was conducted on behalf of the Employers’ Association for the Financial Sector and the Financial Services Union in Denmark. Here Sydbank stood out in a positive way compared to the rest of the sector – in fact we came out on top in terms of employees’ perception of equality in management positions. The fact that men and women at Sydbank feel that their opportunities for promotion are equal is an outstanding result in itself. However regardless of this impressive result we have not reached the finish line yet. 29.3% of management positions were held by women in 2020. This is why we have set a target that women will account for 35% of all managers at the Bank in 2025. We have also introduced a quota regarding Sydbank’s management talent programme so that from 2020 there must be an equal gender balance among participants. The UN Global Compact and the UN Principles for Responsible Banking If we are to ensure a sustainable future for the next generations we must pull together nationally as well as internationally. That is why Sydbank signed the UN Global Compact and the UN Principles for Responsible Banking in 2020 – 2 major endorsements that strengthen our sustainability efforts and social responsibility efforts and help us to embed sustainability into the Bank’s core business. In this report you can read much more about our sustainability efforts and how we take our social responsibility seriously. Green milestones Last summer our new solar cell system was put into operation and since 1 November we have purchased power generated by Danish wind turbines to offset the carbon emissions we are unable to reduce at this point in time. In addition new green products have been added to our product offering to help our retail clients make sustainable decisions, we have added electric cars to our fleet, and employees, customers and business partners can now charge their electric cars at one of our 10 new charging points at the Bank’s head office. These are all large and small initiatives to minimise Sydbank’s carbon footprint and make a difference to our climate. Karen Frøsig CEO CSR Report 2020 / SYDBANK 3
