Sustainable operations

Climate: net-zero business operations by 2030

We are pursuing an ambitious carbon emissions reduction programme aimed at achieving net-zero emissions across all our business operations by 2030.

Our climate commitments:

• We aim to align our own operations with a net-zero trajectory and have committed to an ambitious carbon emissions reduction plan to achieve carbon neutrality across our own operations by 2030.

• We aim to reduce 95 percent of our scope 1, scope 2, and business travel emissions and to use carbon removal credits to compensate for only the remaining emissions (5%) by year-end 2030 (baseline year 2015).

• We aim to further increase the energy efficiency of our buildings, achieving Paris-proof standards in the Netherlands by 2030. This means our offices and branches will use less than 50 kilowatt hours (kWh) on average per square metre of gross floor area (GFA) per annum.*

• We already procure renewable electricity, biogas and CO2-neutral district cooling in the Netherlands and aim to procure 100 percent renewable energy for our operations in the Netherlands by the end of 2025 and outside of the Netherlands by 2030.

• We aim to reduce our carbon emissions from commuting in the Netherlands by 50 percent by year-end 2030 (baseline year 2016, ‘Anders Reizen’ commitment)

• We achieved our aim of reaching a fully electric lease fleet in the Netherlands in early 2025. By 2030 we also expect our full international lease fleet to be electric.

• We aim to reduce international business travel emissions by 80 percent by year-end 2030 (baseline year 2015).

Our climate progress

*This does not include our data centres and buildings with a protected monument status.

Office buildings becoming ‘Paris proof’

Burning fossil fuels to produce energy is the largest source of carbon emissions globally. In order to minimise our emissions, ABN AMRO focuses on reducing its energy consumption by improving the energy efficiency of our buildings.

ABN AMRO’s ambition is to have its offices and branches in the Netherlands on average at Paris-proof level by 2030 at the latest. This means that our buildings meet the requirements of the Paris-proof standard and use less than 50 kilowatt hours per square metre (kWh/m2 GFA) a year on average. Meticulous planning will help carry out adjustments at natural replacement times, ensuring that materials are not removed unnecessarily but are used until ‘spent’ and then replaced by a Paris-proof version. In recent years, we have brought down our energy consumption from 150 kWh per square metre GFA per annum in 2018 to 107.7 kWh per square metre GFA per annum in 2024.

Sourcing of renewable energy

For the energy consumption in our offices and data centres in the Netherlands, we generate electricity through solar panels and source renewable electricity, biogas and district cooling. In 2024, 83 percent of our energy consumption in the Netherlands was renewable and we are pushing to increase this to 100 percent.

ABN AMRO currently procures Guarantees of Origen (GOs) for 100 percent of its electricity and gas needs in the Netherlands. The electricity GOs are certified by Stichting MilieuKeur. In all other countries we operate in, we aim to procure 100 percent renewable energy for our energy needs from 2030 onwards.

Mobility

ABN AMRO joined the Anders Reizen alternative travel coalition in 2018. This coalition includes more than seventy Dutch corporates that have agreed to reduce their carbon emissions from commuting by 50 percent by 2030 relative to 2016. To meet this target, we support employees in travelling sustainably in a variety of ways.

In 2022, ABN AMRO introduced a uniform and flexible commute policy that reflects employees’ needs in connection with hybrid working. This ‘pay-per-use’ model enables employees to use different modes of transport in a single journey, promoting flexibility and the use of public transport. We also provide our employees with a tax-friendly option to purchase a bicycle or electric bicycle and offer our employees a tax-friendly bicycle lease option in cooperation with Lease a Bike.

Employees who drive 15,000 or more business kilometres per year can opt for a fully electric company lease car. Since early 2025, our entire fleet in the Netherlands has been 100 percent electric and by 2030 we expect our entire international lease fleet to be electric.

For colleagues who do not have a company car, we have teamed up with MyWheels. At several ABN AMRO offices and in cities throughout the Netherlands, employees have access to a network of ‘hubs’ and ‘service areas’ for using modern electric cars that have been specially developed for sharing.

International business travel

We are also taking measures to reduce international business travel emissions by 80 percent by 2030 (baseline year 2015), targeting 2.6 kTon of CO2. We are doing this by offering low-emission travel alternatives, substituting air travel by rail travel for all business travel up to 700 km and procuring sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). In 2024 our business travel emissions exceeded our interim target ahead of 2030. From 2025, we are applying a maximum carbon budget for business travel for each department at ABN AMRO.

Carbon offsetting

We currently purchase Verra (VSC) certified carbon avoidance credits based on biogas fermentation and energy generation projects in the Netherlands. These serve as carbon compensation for a comparatively extensive range of scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, including off-premise data centres and Software-as-a-Service, our employees’ public transport commute and home workplace. Ahead of 2030, we aim to reduce these carbon emissions as much as possible. There will still be residual emissions for which viable alternatives are limited. To offset these residual emissions, we will switch to using carbon removal credits.

Procuring credits of a higher quality for scope 1, 2 and business travel enables us to commit to a net-zero target and implement an extra incentive to reduce carbon emissions faster. By reducing 95 percent of the actual emissions to zero by 2030, we will only need to purchase carbon removal credits to compensate for the residual emissions (from business travel) to reach our net-zero target.

Sustainable procurement

As a relatively large company, ABN AMRO is a major buyer of a great many products and services. As well as costs, sustainability also plays a role in the selection of suppliers.