Bank BV has expanded its role in the transition to a low-carbon economy by combining financial growth with positive impact. It is a pioneer in solar financing in the country, and was the first to offer credit for the installation of PV panels to individuals, in 2017, and has since benefited more than 300,000 customers, including households and SMEs. This initiative has become one of the key drivers of BV’s decarbonisation strategy and embodies the commitment to developing financial solutions that reduce emissions and encourage the use of clean energy.
“Solar financing allows us to show that it is possible to achieve results and, at the same time, reduce environmental impact,” says Janina Rinaldi, Executive Director of Solar Business and Products at BV Bank. “It is a concrete example of how BV is integrating sustainability into business and strengthening the entire ecosystem by democratizing access to cleaner, more efficient energy.”
Between 2021 and 2024 alone, the Foundation has already avoided 827 thousand tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is equivalent to neutralizing all annual emissions in the city of Sorocaba (SP). “Solar financing brings sustainability closer to everyday life. It is a win-win relationship: you can reduce your climate impact by using clean energy, while reducing your electricity bill by up to 90%,” highlights Thiago Soares, Executive Director Marketing, Environment and Governance at Banco BV.
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With a unified environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda, BV has expanded its solutions portfolio. The bank also offers exclusive lines of credit to finance hybrid and electric cars, a service that is growing every year. “We were the first bank in the country to offset emissions generated by financed fleets, and today we have already exceeded 6.5 million tons of CO2 offset,” comments Rinaldi.
In the corporate sector, the bank has developed environmental, social and governance advice that helps companies integrate environmental objectives into their operations. “If a client needs credit to expand production, our role is to understand how that expansion can be implemented with less impact, and to offer more favorable rates to those who incorporate sustainability goals,” says Soares.
To measure and validate its progress, BV relies on DEEP ESG, a Brazilian company specializing in carbon footprint calculations. “In general, our work is to make the impact tangible. We calculate how much emissions each process releases or avoids emissions based on international scientific protocols such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Partnership for Carbon Financial Accounting (PCAF),” explains Arthur Covati, co-founder of DEEP ESG.
The next frontier will be compliance with IFRS S1 and S2 standards, which will require disclosure of sustainability information alongside financial statements. “It is a paradigm shift: the carbon stock becomes as essential as the accounting balance. This will require technology, governance and multidisciplinary specialists,” Kovati highlights.
For Thiago Soares, the trend is towards increasing shared responsibility. “Decarbonisation is a process, not a project. We have come a long way, but there are still huge opportunities. The important point is to act now, because the impact will be on this generation,” he concludes.