NatWest Group has joined forces with Microsoft to help businesses better understand their carbon footprint and start to reduce their emissions - leveraging digital technologies.
Due to be piloted later this year, and building on the Silicon Valley software giant鈥檚 innovative cloud, data and artificial intelligence platform, the bank will use its 鈥渄eep customer understanding鈥 to support businesses in understanding how and where they can reduce their emissions.
Tailored action plans form part of the proposal, with NatWest on board for the United Nations鈥 Climate Change Conference - COP26 - being hosted by the 海角视频 later this year.
Alison Rose, chief executive of NatWest Group, said: 鈥淭ackling climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. As the leading bank in the 海角视频 for businesses, we have a significant responsibility, and the ability, to encourage, enable and to lead the way in the 海角视频 to transition to a net zero carbon economy.
鈥淐ross-industry collaboration and powerful partnerships will help to accelerate the speed of the transition, and I am very pleased we are working with Microsoft to help Britain鈥檚 businesses to understand and tackle their carbon footprints.鈥
Researching the initiative, the bank surveyed 500 business customers to learn about their challenges in meeting their climate ambitions.
Eighty-eight per cent said reducing their indirect emissions, such as those in their supply chains, is difficult to get external support for. And 41 per cent said reducing indirect emissions was 鈥榲ery challenging鈥 or 鈥榠ncredibly challenging鈥 for them.
For businesses that haven鈥檛 started their transition, the biggest barriers they face are a lack of information and data, and a lack of resource or funding, the survey found.
Clare Barclay, chief executive of Microsoft 海角视频, said: 鈥淎t Microsoft we grounded our carbon negative strategy in the belief that technology can help solve the world's biggest challenges. We are focused upon pulling all of the levers of influence we have including our operations as a customer, supplier, investor, employer, policy advocate and partner.
鈥淲e are proud to partner with NatWest on its bold sustainability aspirations. Partnerships help us accelerate progress and together I'm looking forward to enabling more 海角视频 businesses to drive the progress we so urgently need.鈥
In January 2020, Microsoft announced its goal to be carbon negative by 2030 and remove more carbon from the environment than it has emitted since its founding by 2050.
NatWest has set ambitions to make its own operations climate positive by 2025, having achieved net zero in 2020, and to halve the climate impact of its financing activity by 2030.
The bank has published its , a new publication bringing together non-financial disclosures to help investors and other stakeholders understand the bank鈥檚 progress against its purpose, for which climate is a key priority.
It has also recently completed analysis of its financing to the oil and gas extraction, automotive manufacturing and agriculture sectors as well as to residential mortgage properties, which represent 45 per cent of its book. It is the first major 海角视频 bank to publish such data and will continue to analyse the rest of its financing this year.
After recent discussions between Ms Rose and Mark Carney, former Bank of England Governor and the Prime Minister鈥檚 Finance Advisor for COP26, NatWest Group intends to join the growing coalition of organisations in the Race to Zero, championed by the 海角视频 COP26 presidency and others, which it says is 鈥渃onsistent with its ambition to be a leading bank acting on climate change鈥.
NatWest was named as one of the first principal partners of the COP26 climate summit last November.
