We take collective action through our signatory status, memberships and accreditations to move forward as a responsible business. In collaboration with our partners, we have progressed a number of key initiatives throughout 2023.
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UN Global Compact (UNGC)
During 2023, we continued our participation in the UN Global Compact (UNGC), remaining as members of the Making Global Goals Local Working Group and the Modern Slavery Working Group. We continue to actively monitor UNGC’s reporting requirements.
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UN Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB)
We were founding signatories of the PRB in 2019 and our ambition is to align our strategy with the 2015 Paris Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2023, we continued our support for the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and announced a new ambition for financial wellbeing, baselined and SDG-aligned in line with PRB Target setting guidance.
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HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter
Our Executive Sponsor for Gender, David Lindberg (CEO, Retail Banking), is part of the ‘Accountable Executive Taskforce’ for the Charter. We’ve utilised the Women in Finance Blueprint, alongside other external benchmarks, to support the delivery of the improvements and associated behaviour change required and remain focused on the interventions that will make the most difference.
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Net Zero Asset Managers initiative
Our net zero by 2050 AUM ambition encompasses total AUM, including Managed Assets, Bespoke and Advisory. To reach net zero we have two 2030 ambitions: to align 70% of Managed Assets to a net-zero pathway and to reduce the weighted average carbon intensity of our equity and fixed income holdings by 50% against a 2019 baseline. As at 31 December 2023, 49% of Managed Assets were considered to be portfolio aligned.
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Sustainable Homes and Buildings Coalition
In 2023, we completed our Greener Homes Retrofit Pilot with the Sustainable Homes and Buildings Coalition, culminating in the third ‘Home is Where the Heat Is’ report, launched in the Parliament in September 2023. As part of this, we took nine NatWest and British Gas customers through a fully funded end-to-end home retrofit journey, which provided valuable insights into customer, market, industry, financial and policy barriers to retrofitting.
Read the ‘Home Is Where the Heat Is’ report.
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International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) – NatWest Markets
NatWest Markets is a member of ICMA and contribute to several of their working groups, such as those on ESG indices, climate transition finance, and sustainability-linked bonds. We helped review and update the ICMA’s Climate Transition Finance Handbook, which provides guidance on how green bonds, sustainability bonds or sustainability-linked bonds can contribute towards transition strategy, and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles, both published in June 2023.
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Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI)
NatWest Group continued to support the Sustainable Markets Initiative and at the SMI’s Terra Carta Action Forum at COP27, we hosted an event in partnership with the SMI Agribusiness Task Force WWF-UK and Sustainable Food Trust, which was designed to drive powerful collaboration across industries and sectors to find the right solutions for farmers to tackle climate change.
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Global Living Wage
We are proud to be accredited as a Living Wage Employer by the Living Wage Foundation, demonstrating our commitment to paying wages that meet the true cost of living in the UK, our rates of pay continue to exceed the Living Wage Foundation benchmarks. For our hubs outside the UK, we continue to pay above the minimum and living wage rates. In 2023, we furthered our commitment to fair pay by achieving accreditation as a Regional Living Wage Employer from the Fair Wage Network and are now recognised as a Global Living Wage Employer. This demonstrates how we take steps, in every location we operate, to ensure our colleagues are paid enough to have a decent standard of living, including food, water, housing, education, healthcare, transport, clothing and other essential needs, such as provision for unexpected events.
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B Corp – Coutts only
Coutts was the first UK-headquartered private bank to become B Corp-certified in 2021. A B Corp is a business that works towards meeting standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and accountability to balance profit and purpose. In order to become a B Corp, a business receives an external accreditation by achieving a minimum verified score on the B Impact Assessment – a rigorous assessment of a company’s impact on its governance, workers, customers, community, and environment.
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CIPD
We were the first financial services organisation to become a CIPD People Development Partner (PDP). NatWest Group is strongly aligned with the CIPD Profession Map, which is principles-led, evidence-based and outcomes-driven. We have delivered sessions to help colleagues understand the map and where their roles sit within it, alongside supporting Senior Leaders gaining their accreditation. We also participated in a ‘data boot camp’ as part of our ambition to develop future skills.
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Partnerships for the goals
Please see below for more examples of NatWest Group signatories, memberships, and accreditations.
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Read more about how we are working to embed and integrate the SDGs into our strategy.
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Read more about how the diverse awards we have reinforce our determination in aiming to make a difference for our stakeholders.
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