ENVIRONMENT

Fully aware of the importance of harmonising economic development with the environment's conservation and achieving energy efficiency, Unicaja Banco seeks to foster initiatives and actions aimed at attaining these goals.

Hence, as far as the environmental and energy impacts it generates are concerned, the Group has defined the specific principles set out below, through which it materialises its commitment to the environment and to energy savings to tackle climate change:

• Promote continuous improvement in matters connected with environmental management and energy performance by adopting efficient sustainable practices that avoid or minimise the pollution the Group's activity generates. 
• Perform its activity by fostering prevention, proper management and control over polluting emissions, and efficient use of natural and energy resources. 
• Act rapidly and responsibly to put right any incidents which might pose an environmental risk or are related to energy use and consumption by quickly informing the authorities and affected parties, as appropriate. 
• Ensure fulfilment of the legislation and other provisions in force on environmental and energy matters, as well as compliance with any national and international commitments or initiatives on sustainability and the environment that have been voluntarily endorsed. 
• Encourage involvement and raise environmental and energy awareness among stakeholders, including Unicaja Banco's personnel and management, in order to foster protection of and care for the environment and improve energy performance. 
• Promote training for employees and management and provide them with the necessary knowledge to implement and monitor environmental and energy efficiency best practices in accordance with their level of responsibility.
• Enhance the reuse and recycling of materials in order to make a contribution to the transition to a circular economy and the acquisition of energy-efficient products and services by encouraging the use of cleaner technologies and design activities that take energy performance improvement into consideration.
• Collaborate with customers, suppliers, public administrations and society in general on all matters connected with environmental protection, improving energy efficiency, and energy use and consumption, as well as with any initiatives aimed at preventing, mitigating and adapting to climate change. 
• Implement measures to preserve or restore biodiversity.
• Incorporate environmental and energy efficiency criteria into decision-making processes on the awarding of service provision agreements.
• Promote compliance with the United Nations Global Compact's Principles and energy efficiency best practices among suppliers.
• Establish programmes which lay down goals and targets set by the integrated management system, and ensure availability of the necessary resources that lead to continuous improvement in environmental and energy performance by conducting rigorous audits and self-assessments on compliance with this Policy and issuing monitoring reports.
• Make the Policy available to all interested parties, and inform stakeholders transparently about the position, management, controls and results concerning the environment, climate change and energy performance through at least the Consolidated Non-Financial Reporting Statement (NFRS).

The latest version of the "Grupo Unicaja Banco Environmental, Energy and Climate Change Policy" was approved by the Board of Directors on 27 January 2023. It aims to set out the basic principles for action in environmental, energy efficiency and climate change management matters in order to reduce the Group's impact and contribute to protecting and conserving the environment, preserving biodiversity and combatting climate change, along with other environmental goals recognised in the European Union's Environmental Taxonomy (Regulation 2020/852).

The Policy is aligned with the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact and with attaining the 2030 Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As far as internal environmental management is concerned, Unicaja Banco's commitment is materialised through two essential approaches: performing environmental management actions and promoting environmental responsibility in society. Furthermore, management systems based on internationally accepted standards on continuous improvement and management models (ISO standards) that contribute to reducing environmental impacts have been implemented.