The centralised function of ESG and the role it clearly plays in the daily operation of NatWest singled it out as the winner for the European financial advisory trophy.

The independent panel of judges on IJGlobal ESG Awards 2024 was impressed by NatWest’s submission and chose to recognise it for the direction of travel and established business practices.

One of the judges said: “The thing that impresses me most about NatWest is not just the action it is taking on individual transactions, but also the way it is embedding ESG into its core functions and daily operations.”

NatWest has developed an integrated, product agnostic approach to sustainable finance, with a central ESG team assisting clients beyond financing on ESG ratings, reporting, investor engagement, and structuring all related ESG products.

The bank’s ESG teams work alongside its sector and product specialist teams to implement the most applicable financing products for customers’ ESG journeys.

This holistic approach allows NatWest ESG teams to work with customers across multiple treasury workstreams – from capital markets to asset finance – and build on the learnings from each client to create suitable financing structures.

The submission states: “Our approach is driven through intellectual content, publishing ESG research and thought pieces at a pace which is in line with consulting and academic institutions.

“During 2023 we published more than 200 thought leadership / content pieces across multiple formats – research pieces, newsletters, webinars, podcasts – from ESG experts on cutting edge ESG topics, all free of charge for the benefit or clients and the markets.”

This action was supported earlier this year (2024) when it rolled out the Sustainable Finance Leadership Toolkit series, which aims to upskill corporate treasury and finance personnel with the critical tools to lead and drive ESG initiatives in their companies.

One of the key developments in recent times that NatWest singles out in its submission is the bank’s work with Acciona – the international developer of sustainable infrastructure solutions that tackle urgent issues such as global warming and water scarcity.

When investing in new projects, Acciona seeks to maximise its positive impact on local stakeholders. To that end, Acciona and NatWest worked together to develop a financial mechanism to support these “local impact” projects.

This led to the establishment of a distinctive new Sustainable Impact Financing Framework.

This includes the usual sustainable finance structures, as well as a commitment to direct the amount equal to the yield saving from issuing a bond or loan in ESG-labelled format, or the benefit of a coupon step-down on a sustainability-linked bond or loan, to support local initiatives which promote environmental or social co-benefits.

The new framework combines 3 previous iterations published by Acciona and Acciona Energía to create a single “family” framework.

Besides covering Green Use-of-Proceeds and Sustainability-Linked financing structures, the framework introduces the new local impact component which puts forward the development of initiatives that generate positive environmental and/or social outcomes at the local level.

Each of the local impact indicators and targets introduced are designed to respond to urgent social needs and contribute to the achievement of Acciona’s 2030 agenda.

In the role of sole ESG structuring adviser, NatWest supported Acciona with refining its sustainable finance strategy, as well as arranging meetings with leading ESG investors to gather valuable feedback on the structural components of the new framework.