Abu Dhabi, 17 March 2022: First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE’s largest bank and one of the world’s largest and safest financial institutions, has become the first UAE and GCC bank to join the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), furthering the bank’s strategy to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
PCAF helps financial institutions aiming to reduce their GHG emissions, by providing a clear methodology for measuring and disclosing the greenhouse gas emissions generated by financial products such as loans and investments. This includes the emissions of portfolio companies or individual investment assets, covering collateral, real estate loans, power generation project financing, and company equity or debt.
By joining PCAF, FAB is committing to measuring and disclosing the greenhouse gas emissions of its portfolio companies within three years, while learning and sharing reliable carbon accounting methods and experience.
Shargiil Bashir, Chief Sustainability Officer at FAB, said: “FAB has made a clear commitment to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which will require decarbonising not just our own operations but also our portfolio, taking into account the emissions of our customers and clients. The standards provided by PCAF are an important tool for achieving our objectives, giving us clear benchmarks to measure and disclose our emissions. The accountability this provides will support our work with clients to bring about positive change.”
PCAF was launched in Europe in 2015, originally in the Netherlands, and expanded globally in 2019. The first banks’ disclosures of greenhouse gas emissions using PCAF methodology was in 2018.
With the addition of FAB, more than 230 companies are now members of PCAF worldwide. They include commercial banks, development banks, asset owners and managers, insurance companies and other financial entities, actively collaborating to develop and implement greenhouse gas accounting in their organisations.
The Science Based Targets initiative has officially endorsed PCAF’s methodology as a universal method for calculating and disclosing financial products’ greenhouse gas emissions.