Company: BCDRF
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0000891478-25-000054
Chunk: 95

Company: Banco Santander, S.A.
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 20-F
Chunk 95
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 groups to obtain information on their carbon footprint.

#### 2.5 Further actions and enablers
2.5.1 Strategy for engagement with other key stakeholders

As mentioned previously, we believe that the banks are enablers of the transition and as such, should not be considered as the sole drivers of this process.

In order for banks to support the transition of their clients, the enabling conditions must be in place. Our aim is to contribute constructively to the transition debate by supporting policymakers and regulators take a common approach to legislation. In this sense, it is now necessary that the predominant regulatory and “finance-centric” approach to the net zero transition that has been adopted to date is reconsidered, acknowledging that the financial sector is an enabler, but that it cannot be the sole driver of sectors´ investments towards a low carbon transition.

In addition, it is important that banks´ aim to supporting high-emitting companies in achieving their transition to cleaner production models is recognised as a priority. This means that our financed emissions are likely to rise as we finance the transition of

these companies. Nonetheless, supervisors should not consider our portfolios as misaligned with a 2050 net-zero pathway, but rather the opposite; we are financing and engaging in our customers’ transition, not divesting from them.

There is a meaningful opportunity ahead to foster that the appropriate levers are set to facilitate the transition of the global economy. This includes the review of the current sustainable finance framework. Whereas much progress has been achieved to date in areas such as reporting on sustainability matters, taxonomies to classify green activities and financing, the aim of the European Commission to streamline and consolidate multiple requirements on companies is very much welcome. The reduction of complexity and of the regulatory burden would facilitate the implementation of the framework by the market, and the allocation of resources to support the transition, while positively contributing to companies' competitiveness and economic growth.

Finally, a framework that supports business transition should not seek to increase the capital requirements linked to ESG risk drivers since the Pillar I prudential framework already considers their

22 Since emissions offsetting is done by country, the upward rounding of tCO 2 e means that the total amount of credits is slightly higher than the total sum of emissions.

23 We calculated these categories based on our operating expenditure in 2024. The emissions factors we used to calculate these categories in 2024 are based on the emission intensities within the input-output (IO) database of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which are split by economic