Exposures financing general corporate purposes of NFRD/CSRD customers are assessed in terms of Taxonomy alignment based on Taxonomy KPIs published by those entities. The Group’s approach to assessing Taxonomy alignment of specific purpose exposures is described in detail below.
Exposures financing specific purposes (assets/projects) classified by the ESG Panel of Santander Bank Polska S.A. as sustainable finance in line with the internal Sustainable Finance and Investment Classification System (SFICS) were thoroughly reviewed in terms of Taxonomy alignment.
The verification of technical screening criteria and the DNSH criterion is based on the analysis of technical documentation of the project, environmental decisions and other reports provided by the customer. The assessment covers the environmental and social impact as well as the investor’s effectiveness in implementing the required mitigation and compensation measures to protect the environment and local community. Furthermore, to identify potential physical risks in the location of the financed investment, the Bank uses a database fed with data from an external EU provider.
The environmental and social analysis is conducted in line with the Equator Principles, a formal methodology adopted by the Bank to assess investments related to projects.
Each majority investor is also verified in terms of compliance with the minimum safeguards. Specifically, the Bank checks if the investor has rules or due diligence processes in place regarding human rights, good tax practices, fair competition and prevention of corruption, and if all employees and suppliers are required to adhere to them. To that end, in 2024 the Group introduced two types of statements for customers, with requirements and wording depending on the size of their business. Investors in projects classified by Santander Bank Polska S.A. as Taxonomy-aligned meet the minimum safeguards criteria.