Triodos Bank has been awarded a BusinessGreen Leaders Award, recognising support and financing for the roll out of clean technologies, green infrastructure and sustainable business models. The awards, described as 'Europe's most prestigious and high profile green business awards', are now in their 8th year and aim to recognise the pioneers building the green economy and leading the low-carbon transition.

Last year, Triodos was the driving force behind a report 'New Pathways: building blocks for a sustainable finance future for Europe' launched under the auspices of the Global Alliance of Banking on Values (GABV), Finance Watch and Mission2020. The report feed into the High-Level Expert Group on sustainable finance (HLEG) and the EU strategy on sustainable finance announced by the European Commission in February.

Bevis Watts, Managing Director of Triodos Bank UK said: "To transform the economy for a sustainable future and meet the Paris Climate targets, we must carefully consider the role of the finance sector and investment choices. We are delighted that this award recognises our desire to change finance and demonstrate a model for sustainable banking that uses the intermediary power of money to benefit people and the planet.

"Legislation capital requirements are a function of risk and in our opinion that means that European banks with exposure to unsustainable assets should be required to attract additional capital, reflecting the systemic risk of brown assets. It is also important to give everyone access to sustainable investment opportunities."

The BusinessGreen Leaders Awards 2018 brought together over 600 executives, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and campaigners to celebrate the green economy's most exciting and innovative achievements from the past 12 months.

In a statement, judges for the awards said: "In one of our most competitive categories there could only be one winner, and ultimately Triodos Bank stood out for its full spectrum approach to green investing, its high profile support for renewables, and its proactive role in pushing for a more sustainable approach right across the European banking sector."

Triodos Bank is Europe's most active global lead arranger for the financing of renewable energy projects, investing in 68 deals across Europe in 2017 totalling $698 million (USD), topping the Clean Energy Pipeline Global League Tables. These deals included wind, solar, hydro, energy efficiency and energy storage. Separately, climate and energy investment funds (managed by Triodos Investment Management) financed 472 projects in the energy sector. Together these generated green energy, equivalent to the electricity needs of 1.4 million European households, avoiding 2.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Philip Bazin, Energy Sector Lead, Triodos Bank UK, says: "Perhaps the most important point is our flexibility and that has had an integral role to play. We are prepared to look at funding projects of different sizes, including smaller one that many other banks and debt funds are not prepared to look at. This has really made a difference, as has our relationship-driven ethos which has helped us retain a good number of repeat customers."

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Watch Christiana Figueres's message from the 2018 Triodos Annual Meeting.

For further information please contact:
Ed Grattan
T : 0117 311 0229
[email protected]

About Triodos Bank 
Triodos Bank is a global pioneer in sustainable banking using the power of finance to invest in projects that are good for people and the planet. Triodos uses its €14.5 billion (2017) in assets to create social, environmental and cultural value in a transparent and sustainable way.

With UK operations based in Bristol, Triodos Bank has branches in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Germany and an agency in France. Globally, Triodos Bank has microfinance projects in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, and is a founding member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV), a worldwide network of 43 banks seeking to transform finance into a vehicle of positive influence.

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