Better Health for All

BBVA's core financial services are considered to have a neutral direct health impact, and no revenue is reported from products with direct negative health outcomes. The company's products do not have direct safety implications for physical or mental health, nor do they have addiction potential or require clinical trials. BBVA does not collect or manage health-related data, nor does it produce or sell food or nutritional products, or hold healthcare-related patents. Through the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF), 244,151 entrepreneurs were protected by health insurance in 2023.

BBVAMF serves approximately 3 million entrepreneurs, with 81% of new loan applicants identified as vulnerable, poor, or extremely poor. This indicates that 75-85% of vulnerable populations are reached with health-related products. BBVA allocated €22 billion to finance social infrastructure, including healthcare, and €27 billion to sustainable business and development projects in emerging markets in 2024, which includes financing for social, educational, and health infrastructure. The BBVA Foundation has an annual budget of more than €25 million for projects in science, environment, health, culture, and humanities. BBVA donated nearly €30 million to humanitarian crisis response initiatives between 2021 and 2024, including €4 million to the Spanish Red Cross in October 2024 for flash floods. For employee wellness, BBVA launched a 24/7 psychological support service, which recorded over 550 consultations in its first six months with a net promoter score over 90%. Over 10,000 employees participated in emotional management conferences, 1,000 in anxiety conferences, and 900 in laughter therapy workshops. In preventative health, 1,173 employees participated in a genetic analysis study for hereditary cardiovascular diseases, and a colorectal cancer screening campaign was launched for employees over 45. A sleep hygiene course resulted in 64% of participants reporting increased sleep hours or improved sleep quality. In healthcare education, BBVA offered first aid workshops, talks on migraines, and consultations with nutritionists. BBVA also supports the Teachers Academy in Turkey, which trains over 35,000 teachers annually on 21st-century skills.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

BBVA's financial inclusion efforts in 2024 led to the bankarization of 3.3 million entrepreneurs and micro enterprises, and financial inclusion for over 280,000 unbanked or underbanked individuals.

This totals approximately 4.64% of its 77.2 million active customers. In 2024, the company allocated €22 billion to finance social infrastructure and support entrepreneurs, representing about 5.19% of its €424,087 million loan book. The BBVA Microfinance Foundation allocated €1.5 billion in lending to vulnerable entrepreneurs in 2024. Between 2021 and 2024, BBVA invested €594 million in social initiatives, with over €370 million earmarked for educational programs, benefiting nearly 106 million people. In 2023, financial literacy initiatives in Argentina reached over 15,000 people. The company has faced regulatory issues, including a €4,829,250 fine for policies and procedures regarding subsidiary supervision in third countries and a €1,640,000 fine from the Spanish Data Protection Agency in 2023. Additionally, BBVA is an investigated party in a criminal judicial investigation related to alleged bribery, revelation of secrets, and corruption, with the pre-trial phase ending in January 2024. The company allocated €410 million of its €550 million Community Commitment to social initiatives by the end of 2023, which represents approximately 5.11% of its €8.02 billion net attributable profit for 2023. In 2024, 70% of the COVID-19 social bond funds were allocated to companies in provinces with high or moderate-high Potential Social Impact Index scores. The company reduced its number of branches by 21% globally and 46% in Spain over the last four years.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

BBVA reports that 100% of its workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements in Spain (excluding senior management), Argentina, Uruguay, Portugal, Venezuela, and Colombia.

In Mexico and Peru, 100% of unionized workers are covered. The Group's adjusted salary gap was 0.7% in 2022 and 0.6% in 2021, indicating near parity. The employee engagement score, based on a Gallup survey, was 4.43 out of 5 in 2023, placing BBVA in the 76th percentile globally. The total turnover rate for the Group was 16.2% in both 2021 and 2022. The work accident frequency rate for the Group was 1.4% in 2022 and 0.9% in 2021. In 2022, the Group received 1,597 complaints through its whistleblowing channel, with 46% resulting in disciplinary action, including 156 disciplinary dismissals.

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

BBVA's Code of Ethics for Suppliers, reviewed and approved on December 5, 2023, applies to all suppliers and outlines minimum ethical, social, and environmental standards.

However, no percentage of supplier contracts explicitly states the inclusion of enforceable ethical-sourcing clauses. In 2017, BBVA Compass, a subsidiary, reported that its percentage of total procurement spent with tier-1 minority-owned suppliers was 13.4% higher than the average among DiversityInc's Top 50 companies. No specific percentage of BBVA's overall procurement budget directed to indigenous, minority, or local community suppliers is provided.

Honest & Fair Business

BBVA received an S&P Global ESG Score of 89 as of November 07, 2024, demonstrating strong performance in managing ESG risks and opportunities.

In the past three years, BBVA incurred ethics-related regulatory fines totaling €6,469,250, which are currently being appealed. The company has a Whistleblowing Channel Policy, approved in June 2023, which ensures confidentiality and safety for complainants, prohibits reprisals, and commits to acknowledging reports within 7 calendar days. Investigations are generally completed within 3 months, or up to 6 months for complex cases. BBVA also maintains a comprehensive anti-corruption policy that applies to all entities, directors, and employees, prohibiting corrupt practices and requiring accurate recording of transactions. This policy includes a whistleblowing channel, a disciplinary system, and oversight by an independent Compliance unit, with all BBVA members undergoing specific anti-corruption training.

Kind to Animals

BBVA is a financial services company, and as such, many KPIs related to direct animal product manufacturing, testing, or agriculture are not applicable to its core operations. The company's Environmental and Social Framework, effective December 2024, states that it will assess clients involved in 'non-health-related animal testing, unless required by local law.'

This policy applies to clients BBVA finances, not its own direct activities, and indicates that legal mandates can override alternatives, mapping to a score of -50. The framework also prohibits financing new deep-sea bottom trawling projects deeper than 600m below sea level and requires special attention for clients involved in controversies related to products regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). BBVA has allocated over $150 million to biodiversity projects in Colombia in 2024 and issued biodiversity bonds totaling $70 million, with an additional $20.22 million for a blue bond in Türkiye, aimed at financing projects for habitat restoration and addressing biodiversity loss. However, the articles do not provide measurable biodiversity outcomes or species recovery metrics for these initiatives, leading to the omission of the 'wildlife_conservation_impact' KPI. There is no evidence of BBVA's direct engagement in animal welfare policy improvement or advocacy, nor any public position on animal welfare legislation, resulting in a score of -90 for 'public_policy_engagement'.

No War, No Weapons

BBVA has a formal Defense Policy in place since February 2012, which applies to all Group units and subsidiaries worldwide and to all financial services.

This policy is reviewed at least once a year and is subject to internal and external auditing. BBVA uses exclusion lists of companies and countries, updated by independent experts, and states it will not maintain financial relationships with companies that sell armaments to countries under arms embargoes from the EU, OSCE, UN, and US. The company explicitly states it will not invest in or provide financial services to companies involved in controversial arms, specifically anti-personnel mines, biological weapons, chemical weapons, and cluster weapons, as defined by international conventions. It also prohibits financing companies directly involved in nuclear weapons for non-NPT signatory countries or those in breach of the NPT. For dual-use items, BBVA follows EU export control and Spanish JIMDDU regimes, and its Environmental and Social Framework includes the defense sector, with supervision for new wholesale customers regarding prohibited activities. BBVA Asset Management's exclusion policy also applies to controversial weapons. The company has conducted two global Human Rights Due Diligence exercises since 2018 and states full alignment with UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, with third-party assurance of performance.

Planet-Friendly Business

BBVA reported total market-based GHG emissions of 1,393,017 tCO2 eq in 2024, representing a 7.08% decline from 2023.

The company has set decarbonization targets for 2030 and aims for Net Zero Emissions by 2050, with intermediate goals in ten sectors, but these targets are not explicitly stated as SBTi-validated. 97% of the electricity consumed by BBVA in 2024 was from renewable sources, including 100% renewable electricity in several countries, sourced through IRECs, PPAs, guarantees of origin, and self-consumption facilities. 61% of BBVA's total surface area is environmentally certified, including 19 buildings and 10 branches with certifications like LEED. Ciudad BBVA and other corporate buildings in Madrid, along with the Opplus building in Malaga, have achieved Zero Waste to Landfill certification. BBVA has an internal Voluntary Carbon Market standard for evaluating carbon credits and purchased 51,000 carbon credits in 2024 from a community project. The company supports customers in analyzing the carbon footprint of their suppliers, with 17% of purchased goods and services emissions calculated using supplier-specific data in 2024. BBVA is a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the UNEP FI Biodiversity Community, and its foundation finances scientific research in ecology and conservation biology. The company's Environmental and Social Framework prohibits financing new projects that endanger UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Ramsar wetlands, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and IUCN Category I–IV areas, and includes restrictions on burning natural ecosystems for land clearing or removing high conservation value and high carbon forests. BBVA implements environmental and social risk assessment processes for projects, including due diligence for projects under EP4. The company has a net-zero emissions target for 2050 and has developed a Transition Plan following TCFD recommendations. BBVA's risk assessment incorporates various climate scenarios, including RCP 7.0 and NGFS, across different time horizons for its portfolio.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

BBVA has no reported cultural appropriation incidents.

The company adheres to the Equator Principles since 2004, which involve assessing environmental and social impacts of projects, and has developed a procedure for managing environmental and social disputes, along with a guide for integrating ESG factors into wholesale credit analysis. In Mexico, a Specialized Customer Service Unit (UNE) addressed 30,311 claims in 2024 with an average resolution time of 8 days. The company's Regional Advisory Councils in Mexico consist of 27 councils with 497 leaders, including 52 women in 2023, with an initial target of at least 20% women. In 2023, 53,500 professionals participated in sustainability training sessions, and in 2024, 94% of the total workforce in Mexico completed an Express Sustainability course.

Safe & Smart Tech

Garanti BBVA, a subsidiary, adopts Responsible AI principles, pledges commitment to Human Rights and non-discrimination, and plans new control mechanisms for unbiased results.

BBVA is involved in a three-year applied research project into responsible AI, titled Fair Learning, and designed a dataset to stress test generative AI models for discriminatory bias in non-English languages. Garanti BBVA renewed its Tier IV Gold certification for technological excellence from Uptime Institute in February 2025, making its data center one of only 24 worldwide with this accolade. BBVA trained 60,000 employees in cybersecurity by April 2022 and used behavioral economics to increase participation in cybercrime training by up to 70% by August 2023. BBVA has over 40 use cases for biometrics to identify customers and prevent fraud, and Garanti BBVA launched Türkiye’s first biometric credit card in May 2024. BBVA also launched Aqua cards with dynamic CVV codes and no printed numbers. The company's Technology and Cybersecurity Committee receives information on significant cybersecurity incidents affecting the BBVA Group and conducts stress tests on cyber resilience. BBVA complies with 95% of the recommendations of the Code of Good Governance of Listed Companies. BBVA has prevented up to 75% of fraud in 3 years by January 2023. BBVA ranks first in the '4th Cybersecurity Transparency Report' by Watch & Act Protection Service as of December 2024. BBVA Spain’s app has a ‘discrete mode’ that hides sensitive information when it detects someone looking at the screen.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

BBVA manufactures recycled plastic debit and credit cards with 86% recycled content.

BBVA Mexico has a Global Eco-efficiency Plan (GEP) 2021-2025 with a target for a -2% net waste reduction. Hazardous waste is managed by Garanti BBVA and BBVA Mexico, with no waste disposal violations found during inspections in Mexico. BBVA Mexico integrates ethical, social, and environmental factors into its supply chain, evaluating 15.94% of new suppliers based on these criteria. BBVA Mexico also provides a carbon footprint calculator to app users.