Environment and community

The emission values are expressed according to two different methodologies:

• the “market-based” approach, which requires the GHG emissions resulting from the purchase of electricity and heat to be determined considering the specific emission factors communicated by our suppliers. For purchases of electricity from renewable sources, an emission factor of zero is attributed with regard to Scope 2;
• the “location-based” approach, which, on the other hand, accounts for emissions from electricity consumption applying national average emission factors.

With the aim of achieving the target of zero net emissions by 2040, as defined in the Strategic Plan, we identified the following environmental objectives:

• 25% reduction of the carbon footprint by 2025 (compared to the 2019 baseline) with regard to corporate securities;
• Coal phase-out by 2030 for all corporate investments;
• Zero net emissions by 2040. The various indicators monitored and their change compared to the baseline (2019) with regard to Banca Generali’s direct investment portfolio, which to date includes in its scope Banca Generali’s banking book, the portfolio management schemes and BGFML's UCITS, are given here below.

To calculate the carbon footprint, the Bank uses the data provided by MainStreet Partners. CO2 emissions data refer to the most recent information provided by the issuer, with a maximum 2-year lookback period in respect of the year of analysis (for the analysis at 31 December 2022, data used have been compared to data at 31 December 2021 or 31 December 2020). The EVIC, used to calculate carbon intensity, refers to the most up-to-date information available on the market at the time of the analysis. Absolute emissions are the GHG emissions associated with a portfolio, in tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

All the electricity we consume comes from renewable sources.

The Milan office, located in the Hadid Generali Tower, is also connected to a district heating network that supplies hot water for heating and sanitary applications.

In 2022 we also launched BG Smart Energy, a campaign in ten episodes to raise our peoples’ awareness of conscious use of energy resources. A group of employees acted as testimonials of energy saving, providing colleagues with tips on how to pay attention to the topic during their everyday work activities.

We consider water to be an important resource and are committed to using it sparingly in all our offices. Water is used primarily for the purposes of hygiene and sanitation and to supply the heating and air-conditioning systems. At the Milan office, aquifer water is used, drawn from deep below ground, which has the advantage of being naturally purified by its passage through the permeable layers of the terrain. In this case, the water is pressurised and used directly for the hydrant network for cleaning, toilets and humidifiers. At the Trieste offices, almost all the water that is consumed comes from municipal or state mains.

Photocells or timer controls have been installed at both sites to reduce water consumption to a minimum and allow water flow to be controlled effectively.

Paper is the material most used in the banking sector. To reduce its consumption, we have introduced the following measures:

• electronic archiving and dematerialisation of documents;
• use of e-mail and messaging in communications between companies, branches, offices of Financial Advisors and customers;
• introduction of Banca Generali Digital Collaboration, whereby Financial Advisors can send their investment proposals to customers, who in turn can review and redefine their investment decisions, with the possibility to confirm the instructions digitally without using paper/ print material;
• activation, for clients who use Home Banking, of the Doc@online function, which can be used for the digital transmission of all communications from the Bank (e.g., account statements, term sheets, accounting documents, information memoranda, etc.).

Where possible, we buy material with a lower unit weight than normal in order to contain the weight of the paper consumed. In addition, we prefer to purchase low environmental-impact toner cartridges and stationery such as pens with water-based, solvent- free ink, pencils made of wood from sustainably managed forests, recycled and/or remanufactured toner cartridges.

We conducted a number of campaigns to raise awareness amongst our employees of the issue of proper waste management and sorting. Each corporate site has separate waste containers for paper and cardboard, plastic, glass and aluminium.

A high level of care is also taken in the correct disposal of waste that is most hazardous or harmful for the environment, such as IT products and toner cartridges. In detail, IT waste made up of obsolete electronic equipment is returned to the suppliers or sent to specialised plants handling the disposal and recycling of reusable parts. Similarly, most exhausted toner cartridges are returned to the supplier to be recycled or remanufactured, whilst the rest are disposed of in accordance with regulations.

Hazardous waste (e.g., fluorescent tubes, batteries, etc.) is just a small portion of all the waste we produce and is disposed of using specialist firms. We track the hazardous waste we generate in specific registers, as required by applicable legislation.

Banca Generali also focuses closely on the three Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) for long-term assets, above all in logistics processes involving the closing, transfer or restyling of branches or agency offices.

In such cases, it proceeds by considering the following management methods (reported in decreasing order of priority of action):

• Potential reuse of the asset in the new location or at other properties, considering the cost-effectiveness of recovery and the aesthetic/functional result;
• Involvement, through network managerial structures, of local communities (e.g., non-profit organisations, associations, entities, etc.) for the recovery of assets no longer of interest to the Bank;
• Disposal of assets in public dumps to begin the industrial recycling process for the asset disposed of.