ESG and the future of banking: Česká spořitelna
Petra Ondrušová, Chief Sustainability Officer, and Ondřej Karban, Product Owner ESG Digital Advisory at Česká spořitelna, explain how the Czech bank balances ESG goals with financial performance, integrates sustainability into its core strategy, and uses data and technology to deliver real impact beyond compliance.
Petra Ondrušová, Chief Sustainability Officer, and Ondřej Karban, Product Owner ESG Digital Advisory at Česká spořitelna, explain how the Czech bank balances ESG goals with financial performance, integrates sustainability into its core strategy, and uses data and technology to deliver real impact beyond compliance.
Can you provide an overview of your institution and share the key ways ESG is integrated into your long-term strategy?
Petra: Česká spořitelna is the largest bank and the most traditional bank in the Czech Republic, and our approach to sustainability is rooted in a mission that has guided us for over 200 years—to lead individuals, businesses, and communities toward long-term sustainable prosperity. We feel a shared responsibility for the sustainable prosperity of Czech society and aim to accelerate changes that strengthen respect for people and the environment.
Sustainability is the lens through which we view our impact on society, and ESG principles permeate everything we do. They are integrated into our overall bank strategy, credit policies, investment decisions, and internal governance. Our ambition is to be a driver of change and sustainable transformation in both social and environmental areas, and to be a leader in sustainable finance.
Ondřej: At Česká spořitelna, we see ESG as an integral part of our financial health advisory services. When approached correctly, ESG helps companies increase their efficiency, resilience, and long-term prosperity. Our goal is for ESG not to be seen as a separate topic, but as a core part of the advisory value we provide to businesses.
A concrete example is our photovoltaic calculator, which helps clients calculate cost savings and return on investment, and suggests suitable financing. This allows clients to effectively reduce operating costs while also lowering their carbon footprint. It’s an ideal win-win scenario that connects economic and environmental benefits.
How do you balance ESG goals with financial performance while ensuring your initiatives drive real impact beyond just meeting compliance?
Petra: We believe ESG and financial performance are not mutually exclusive—on the contrary, well-designed ESG initiatives can be a powerful engine for long-term prosperity and growing value. When financing projects, we consider not only economic returns but also environmental and social impacts that influence a company’s future reputation and value.
Focusing on long-term sustainable development also motivates us to improve ourselves—to reach the highest standards in employee care, client service, and environmental and social impact. This helps us innovate our services and offer clients solutions that make them more resilient and competitive in a changing world.
Ondřej: Exactly—ESG makes sense when it delivers tangible value for both the client and the bank. By integrating ESG into our advisory tools, we help companies reduce costs, manage risks, and identify investment opportunities. We don’t treat ESG as just a regulatory requirement, but as a valuable data input for better business decisions. The bank always finances change, and we want to actively direct capital where it can support positive shifts in society. That’s why we’ve set a concrete goal: by 2026, at least 25 % of our corporate loans will go toward sustainable financing.
How is your bank evolving in terms of using ESG data to guide decision-making, particularly in areas like lending, risk management, and investments?
Petra: ESG data is now an integral part of our decision-making processes. In lending, we use it to assess clients; in investments, we monitor the carbon footprint of portfolios; and in risk management, we integrate climate risks into our models. We are working on improving data quality, standardization, and automation.
Ondřej: We see ESG data as a new type of business input—it helps us even better understand the operational reality of companies and provide more targeted advice and relevant products. We’re working to integrate ESG information into segmentations, recommendation algorithms, and risk decision-making. For example, for companies investing in energy efficiency, we want to be able to offer the right financing at the right time—when it brings the most benefit to the client.
In an era of heightened scrutiny, how do you ensure your bank’s ESG initiatives are creating tangible, lasting impact rather than merely fulfilling compliance requirements?
Petra: For us, ESG is not just about “having everything in order on paper,” but about real impact. That’s why we ask ourselves questions like: Are we truly helping clients reduce emissions? Are we contributing to greater financial inclusion? Do our activities have measurable benefits for the community? Our ESG goals are tied to specific metrics, and we evaluate them regularly.
Ondřej: Regulatory requirements allow companies and banks to gather valuable data. At Česká spořitelna, we actively explore how to offer clients relevant value in return for providing this data—whether through ESG benchmarking against competitors or turning compliance data into personalized recommendations in financing, investments, or operational efficiency. We believe the real impact lies in the ability to turn data into concrete value for the client.
How are emerging technologies like AI and fintech impacting the ESG role as such—particularly in areas like data management, portfolio decarbonization, customer evaluation, and reporting?
Ondřej: Technology is a key accelerator of ESG transformation. The combination of ESG and AI opens new possibilities for providing personalized advice tailored to each company. It also enables us to offer the right banking products at the right time—for example, suggesting suitable financing exactly when a company is deciding on a major investment. The integration of ESG data, AI, and personalized approaches brings enormous potential—for clients, who receive more targeted support, and for the bank, which can better manage risks and deliver higher added value.
How is your institution approaching transition finance—particularly when supporting carbon-intensive sectors on their path to decarbonization? What frameworks or tools guide your decision-making in these cases?
Petra: We see transition finance as a key tool for achieving climate goals. It’s not about excluding companies, but about how and whom to support on their transformation journey. For carbon-intensive sectors, we focus on specific transition plans and the company’s ability to reduce emissions over time.
Our decision-making is guided by frameworks such as the EU Taxonomy, Just Transition principles, and our internal ESG scoring. Transparency of intent and measurability of progress are crucial for us. We believe banks can play a key role in how quickly and effectively the economy adapts to a low-carbon future.
Looking ahead to 2030, what major trends or regulatory shifts do you anticipate will influence ESG practices in banking, and how is your institution preparing for them?
Ondřej: In the short term, deregulation may simplify reporting for companies, but it also makes it harder for banks to obtain data. This drives the need for active value exchange—where a company provides ESG data and, in return, receives tangible added value from us. This could be personalized advice, benchmarking, or recommendations for improving their ESG profile. This approach may be the key to keeping ESG relevant and beneficial for all stakeholders.
Petra: Although it may not seem so now, in the longer term we expect a fundamental shift in how ESG is perceived—from a compliance issue to a full-fledged part of performance and risk management. Regulations like CSRD and new climate scenario requirements will demand high-quality data, robust processes, and the ability to integrate ESG across the entire organization. We are preparing through investments in data infrastructure, employee education, and active participation in working groups and discussions beyond the bank. ESG will gradually become not only a standard but also a competitive advantage—and we want to be at the forefront of this change.
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