the how and why #7 sustainable banking - abn amro · 2019. 10. 29. · circular economy as a model...

Newsletter no. 7 - april 2017

SustainableBanking

The How and Why #7

This newsletter is part of the regular ABN AMRO sustainable reporting for the period: 1 January - 1 April 2017

Circular economy

ABN AMRO recently managed to get William McDonough, a visionary in the area of

sustainability, to speak at a recent Sustainable Banking knowledge session for staff. He gave

the jam-packed room inspiring insights on the benefits of the circular economy. ‘Sustainable

choices do not contradict financial arguments in any way whatsoever.’

The sustainable knowledge

sessions that ABN AMRO regularly

organises for employees, called

50 Shades of Green, always draw

large crowds – but the circular

economy session was exceptionally

popular. The meeting was fully

subscribed only sixty minutes after

it was announced that William

McDonough would be the guest

speaker. An architect and author of

the bestseller Cradle to Cradle, Mr

McDonough was one of the first

experts to embrace the circular

economy. His vision is highly

pertinent to the bank’s employees

– a good reason to share the

session also by broadcasting it via

livestream. ABN AMRO sees the

circular economy as a model for

the future and is taking the lead in

financing clients’ circular projects.

A different perspective

The circular economy is an economic

system in which products and

services are exchanged between

customers and suppliers in a

closed-loop commodity cycle.

‘To participate, you need to

take a different perspective,’

Mr McDonough explained at

the session. The architect says

sustainable initiatives too often focus

on ‘eradicating evil’ rather than on

‘promoting good’. Take environmental

targets, for example: ‘We want to

reduce carbon emissions, but that’s

like hailing a taxi and saying “Don’t

take me to the airport”.’ The circular

economy begins with design. ‘That

means using sustainable, reusable

Hugely popular knowledge session on the circular economy


materials and thinking about

recycling in the future when you

start production.’

Fully committed

This event was the fourth in a series

of knowledge sessions on human

rights, social entrepreneurship

and sustainable investment. Mr

McDonough’s vision links up with

that of the bank, stressed Daphne

de Kluis, CEO of Commercial

Banking, during the session. ‘The

circular economy requires a different

way of thinking and producing.

Our clients realise they need to

change the way they see the value

that a company creates. That is by

no means solely economic value.

Today’s consumers are making

different choices, and our clients’

new business models require

different kinds of financing models.

We are fully committed to this

change.’

For birds and bucks

Mr McDonough sees an array of

possibilities for the bank. ‘The

number of circular initiatives

is growing rapidly; after all, it’s

a financially attractive option.

You’re bankers – do the maths.

Sustainable choices do not

contradict financial arguments in

any way,’ says Mr McDonough.

He convinced the American car

company Ford Motors to build

a green roof when it renovated

a large assembly hall. The roof

purifies rainwater, is a breeding

ground for birds, and provides

insulation for the factory. All

materials used are recyclable and

the life span is longer than that of

an ordinary roof. ‘Ford did it to help

the birds and to generate savings of

more than a million dollars.’

Guts

How can we make the world a

better place? Mr McDonough says

this is the $64,000 question that

ABN AMRO employees need to ask

themselves. ‘Ask your clients, too.’

He knows that takes guts. ‘Twenty-

five years ago, when I proposed

renting out washing machines

instead of selling them, people

said I was a nut and a communist.

Now it’s done all the time.’

Circular initiatives are sustainable

and financially attractive, Mr

McDonough emphasises, but more

than anything, they’re inspiring.

‘How cool is it to tell your kids that

you’re financing buildings made of

materials that will be reused for

generations to come?’

Circular economy


Putting solar on big roofs is a superior way to generate renewable energy, and ABN AMRO

investor helps entrepreneurs lock in the rewards in an easy way. Businesses are queuing up,

as no capital spend is required.

There’s no denying the benefits

of solar power, but the requisite

sizeable investment in solar panels

and lengthy pay-back period make

it a less obvious spend for many

businesses. Investor Maas Capital –

a subsidiary of ABN AMRO – teamed

up with solar project developer

SolarAccess to devise a plan.

Entirely covering businesses’ roofs

with solar panels, the joint venture

is responsible for placement and

maintenance while the recipients

pay for the use of the solar panels

instead of owning them. Businesses

pay a little below the market rate for

solar energy, with the actual discount

varying per company and depending

on their own power consumption,

roof size and location.

No investment required

In 2013 Heineken was the first

company to join the scheme, which

has since become attractive to more

companies thanks to a subsidy from

the Dutch government. Ben Kras of

Kras Recycling in the Dutch town of

Volendam was among those who

signed the letter of intent, seeing

this as a next step in his business’s

sustainability drive: “We’ll be energy-

neutral once these solar panels on

top of our four company buildings

are hooked up.” Earlier, Kras had got

his company on LED lighting and

an electricity-driven vehicle fleet.

He feels the scheme is “too good

to pass up” and notes that “we’d

considered investing in solar panels

ourselves at some point but decided

not to for competitive reasons, as

their long pay-back period was too

uncertain.” The Maas Capital/Solar

Access deal runs for 16 years. As

Kras says: “By which time I’ll own

the panels, which should theoretically

last another decade.”

Benefiting from solar power without investing

Renewable economy

https://www.abnamro.com/nl/duurzaam-bankieren/onze-focuspunten/sociaal-ondernemen/waarom-sociaal-ondernemers-meer-klandizie-kunnen-verwachten.html?ext=20170131_db_en_entrepreneurship_more_customers


Low-cost

In principle, any kind of business can

access the subsidy offered by the

Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs

for generating and supplying solar

power. The attraction of the deal is

that the joint venture takes care of

the subsidy application, as well as

installing and maintaining the solar

panels. In this way, the bank aims to

help its clients make a contribution

to a more sustainable world. And the

businesses themselves are looking

at lower energy bills as they generate

their own power. Companies

boasting big roofs with a minimum

surface area of 5,000 square metres

are eligible.

Large building

For Louis Sciarli, Managing Director

of waste processing company Vliko,

the scheme came at just the right

time. Last year, Vliko brought a range

of business units together in a single

commercial building in Zoeterwoude

in the Netherlands. Previous capital

spending on LED lighting and electric

forklift trucks had already cut their

energy bill, and solar panels should

help meet their full annual energy

requirement of around 250,000

kWh once these are up and running.

Sciarli enthuses: “We’ll be able to run

fully energy-neutral operations. We

aim to be sustainability leaders and

there really wasn’t a reason not to do

it, given the costs.”

Sustainable bread bags

Volendam-based family business Kivo

Plastic Packaging feels the scheme

fits in with its own mission to make

its key product – the plastic bread

bag – as sustainable as possible.

Director-owner Robert Kwakman

comments: “Flexible plastic gets a

bad rap in the market and we jump

at any opportunity to make our

products more sustainable. Solar

panels should facilitate energy-

neutral production of our bread bags

over time.” Kwakman took a long,

hard look at the costs and terms &

conditions before he bit the bullet:

“Costs per kWh are below market

rates – that’s essential in our line

of work as competition is fierce.”

After signing the letter of intent,

the entrepreneur talked his foil

supplier and distributor into joining

the scheme as well, by stressing

its environmental importance, price

and terms & conditions – i.e. it’s

not a capital spend and doesn’t get

recognised in the balance sheet.

“That’s how, little by little, we’re

making our supply chain more

sustainable.”dak liggen wordt in de

volledige jaarlijkse energiebehoefte

van de afvalverwerker van circa

250.000 kWh voorzien. Sciarli:

‘We zijn in staat om volledig

energieneutraal te werken. We

hebben duurzaamheid hoog in het

vaandel en gezien de kosten zagen

we geen reden om het niet te doen.’

Renewable economy


Social entrepeneurs

With its new incentive scheme, ABN AMRO is supporting three social start-ups a year to

the tune of €10,000 each. The first one to be selected is the start-up behind GoOV, an app

allowing people with disabilities to travel by themselves. “For our users, this freedom is a

first.”

The new incentive scheme allows

ABN AMRO to lend a helping hand to

social enterprises. These businesses

place a premium on the common

good, supported by a solid revenue

model. For every social entrepreneur

who is a client, ABN AMRO deposits

€100 a year into the scheme. Three

times a year, the bank donates

€10,000 from the fund to a new

social enterprise. GoOV (which is

short for Go Openbaar Vervoer, or

Go Public Transport, in Dutch) is a

project launched by Lars Nieuwenhoff,

Eljakim Information Technology and

Siza. Nieuwenhoff, who used to

work as an innovation manager at

an organisation serving the needs

of disabled people, says he noticed

how much individuals with learning

disabilities, for instance, want to

travel unassisted although it’s far

from easy for them. And for the deaf,

even a simple train journey can be a

major challenge. Nieuwenhoff and

his partners have now developed an

app to allow all these people to travel

unaccompanied. In fact, over 300

people now use the GoOV app to

travel every single day. The result is far

greater freedom for both users and

their carers, as well as a big savings

on the cost of special transport.

The app allows people with

disabilities to travel by themselves.

How did that idea come about?

“Siza, the care organisation I used

to work for, aims to help people

with disabilities live their lives as

independently as possible – in the

home and at work, but also in terms

of mobility. Mobility can be a tough

nut to crack, though. We had the idea

to build an app that guides users as

A social enterprise that makes “ordinary” public transport something very special


Social entrepeneurs

they travel by providing them with

information tailored to their needs –

not just for a bus trip, for example, but

also for the walking route to the bus

station and the final destination. Today

350 users travel with GoOV every

day. Not only has the app given them

a huge amount of freedom they’ve

never had before, but it’s also helping

their parents and carers, who can log

in to the GoOV portal to stay informed

about the journey in real time.”

How does GoOV work?

“After some training, all users have

to do is enter their itineraries and hit

the road armed with the GoOV app

on their phone. The app gives them

information about their journey every

step of the way, even in the event of

delays or diversions. The itinerary data

presented by the app are tailored to

the individual needs of users, guiding

them from door to door.”

Can you give us an example of

how data are tailored to the user’s

needs?

“We developed the app based on

a wide range of user experiences.

For instance, we incorporated the

information from Google Street View

when the app shows walking routes,

but discovered that for many of our

users with autism this type of image

was actually confusing because a

photo taken during the summer won’t

always be an accurate representation

of the same street in winter. For

others, the visual information the app

presents works better. There’s one

feature which is important to all users,

though, and that’s the panic button.

This button immediately connects the

user with a call centre representative,

who can give the user advice on

directions (we plan to introduce a chat

feature for deaf users in the future) or

call a taxi if necessary to get the user

to their destination.”

The jury was impressed that the

app also helps save on the cost of

transport. But how?

“At the moment, people with

disabilities often take special

taxi buses and are sometimes

accompanied by a carer, with the

state picking up the tab. Enabling

people to travel independently when

possible results in a significant

decrease in these costs. The

municipality covers the cost of the

user’s subscription to the GoOV app.

In fact, the municipalities of Arnhem,

Utrecht and Goeree are actively

proposing it to new users. We’re now

focusing on other municipalities.”

The jury noted that GoOV had

“very realistic expectations for its

success”. Can you elaborate on

that?

“Social entrepreneurship is about

transparency, and that includes

expectations. At the moment, 1

million people with disabilities use

adapted transport in the Netherlands.

In theory, 200,000 of them can travel

on their own. We think one to two per

cent of this group will be using our

app by the end of the year.”

What’s on the horizon for GoOV?

“We’ll break even once we have

1,000 users. Any profits will be put

towards developing the app and

reducing subscription fees. I aim to

deploy GoOV as widely as possible,

since the technology has a broad

application not just in other countries

(we’re exploring our options in

Belgium at the moment), but also for

other target groups. Examples include

seniors who want to travel unassisted

well into old age and the children of

refugees who don’t speak Dutch yet.”

How will GoOV be putting the

funding from the incentive scheme

to use?

“We plan to use the money to

develop the chat feature so that our

deaf users can take full advantage of

GoOV.”


Where does the bank stand?

Human trafficking and exploitation occur every day. Also in the Netherlands. How can ABN

AMRO and the police join forces to combat this? The interview on the sofa takes place close

to the National Slavery Monument in Amsterdam.

More often than not, human

trafficking and exploitation are not

about trucks crammed with refugees.

These crimes are usually far less

visible and glaring. Take a prostitute,

for example, who looks at potential

clients in the Red Light District with

a friendly smile, or seasonal workers

cutting asparagus on the fields around

the corner from your home. Are they

working of their own free will or are

they being forced to do so?

Human trafficking and exploitation

occur because they bring in cash.

And that money sometimes ends

up in the bank accounts of clients

of ours and therefore in the bank’s

systems. By keeping a sharp eye on

unusual transactions, ABN AMRO

can help fight human trafficking and

exploitation.

In this edition of ‘Where does the

bank stand?’ Rob van ’t Oever, Head

of Intelligence & Analysis at SIM

talks to Gert Buist, advisor on human

trafficking with the Dutch Police

Force. He wants to know what ABN

AMRO can do to combat human

trafficking and exploitation.

Where, according to the police, does the bank stand?

https://www.abnamro.com/en/sustainable-banking/reporting-and-publications/dilemmas/video-dilemma-human-trafficking.html


After two years of hard work, ABN AMRO Bank N.V., Facility Management, is the frst

major bank in the Netherlands to obtain sustainability certifcation ISO 14001. Although this

technical term may not mean much to most people, certification has an enormous impact

on the bank’s more than three hundred offices, many suppliers and tens of thousands of

employees. We asked Building and Technology manager Rob Vermeij about this incentive for

organisations to meet their environmental targets.

What is ISO 14001?

ISO 14001 sets out the criteria for an

environmental management system.

The supply and execution of facility

services and product for the benefit

of the institution in the Netherlands. It

helps organisations change processes

in order to achieve their sustainability

targets. For example, cleaners need to

use different products, waste should

be separated, suppliers must comply

with new rules and employees are

expected to use their building’s climate

control systems sensibly. The standard

covers everything, and a protocol

has been worked out for everything

– even for every environmental risk

conceivable. For example, the drains at

our bank branches have to be able to

handle a situation in which, say, petrol

that has leaked from a parked truck

does not end up in the sewer. Once

all these processes have been put in

place, from the ground floor up to the

boardroom, an unannounced audit is

carried out by DEKRA, an inspection

service for ISO 14001. If everything

works properly, the applicant will

receive certification. Certification is

valid for one year – and the bar is

raised every year.’

What was the outcome of the

audit?

‘A spot check was held at a number of

our branches. During these surprise

visits, auditors inspected how waste

was sorted, whether certain cleaning

products were stored separately to

prevent chemical reactions to leaks,

etc. They conducted interviews with

our staff to see if everyone understood

The system that transforms plans into action

Certification


Certification

the importance of compliance. The

audit revealed that over eighty per

cent of our processes were in order.

We drew up a plan for the other

twenty per cent. Sure, we had to

work hard. How do you prevent

a legionella infection, and what’s

your plan should a calamity like this

take place? Are you aware of the

safety of the products used in your

building? That kind of thing. You could

tell that DEKRA is an independent

organisation that doesn’t grant

certification to just anybody.’

Why is ABN AMRO Bank N.V.,

Facility Management, the first

major Dutch bank to obtain this

certifcation?

‘Implementing this system on

our organisation’s scale is a big

operation. More than three hundred

branches have to work with it,

many suppliers have to adapt their

procedures and tens of thousands of

employees across the organisation

have to be informed of numerous

different processes. That’s easier

to do in smaller organisations, but

on our scale it takes a lot of time,

planning and dedication. One of the

most important aspects is support

at management level: all these

changes have to be given priority

in terms of decision-making. We

therefore took two years to carefully

prepare for certification: changing

processes, training people, making

new purchasing agreements. We

now have a coordinator, for example,

whose only responsibility is to make

sure that all offices continue to

comply with the certification criteria.

And we monitor at a distance the

energy consumption of each branch.

If we register a peak, we call straight

away to find out what’s going on.’

Why is certification necessary?

Weren’t things arranged properly

in the past?

‘It was all organised fine, but

generally by individual branches, so

there was little consistency. There

were no fixed processes. We’ve

always worked in accordance with

the law, but we didn’t feel that was

enough. We wanted to take a step

forward in terms of sustainability.

This fits in with our ambition and

targets, one of which is to make all

our offices carbon-neutral by 2020;

ISO 14001 certification supports us

in this. We have created a roadmap

for energy consumption at all our

buildings. DEKRA wanted to know

how we will safeguard this objective:

How will you make sure that you

actually achieve these goals? With

the ISO system, we work this out

in processes, we draw up an annual

plan and we use the ‘plan, do, act

and check’ method to make sure

the planned improvements are

actually carried out. If we fail to

meet our interim targets, we lose

certification. So it’s a good incentive.

Certification helps us to transform

good intentions into action.’

Have you now reached your goal?

Or is this just the beginning, and

do you have further ambitions?

‘We have many more ambitions.

Until now, we’ve only addressed

facility processes: cleaning, waste,

catering and technical services. The

next step will be to have the HR

processes certified.. Step three will

be IT: replacing traditional monitors

with LED-lit screens, using circular

raw materials, that kind of thing. I

believe this continuous improvement

will also be visible in how we score

in various external benchmarks,

where transparency is key. And that’s

exactly what this certification does –

it makes visible how sustainable we

are.

What is your ultimate goal?

‘Our ultimate goal is to help clients

by sharing our knowledge with them.

We finance hundreds of thousands

of square kilometres of real estate

in the Netherlands. They can really

benefit from the experience we have

gained with ISO 14001. We don’t

keep the copyright of the business

case to ourselves, but give our

clients the ‘right to copy’. We also did

that by using our Alkmaar branch as

a sustainability blueprint for clients,

for example. It would be fantastic if

we could share the insights we have

gained with ISO in the same way.’


Richard (re)tweets:

Richard (re)tweets: “Changing course at a quarter past midnight, now that takes real guts”

Head of Sustainable Banking Richard Kooloos ranks his favourite tweets and retweets once every three months. This

quarter’s picks: the opportunities offered by Blockchain, companies helping refugees and our new ‘circular’ pavilion.

Richard Kooloos, Head of Sustainable

Banking at ABN AMRO and

registered tweeter, hit the tweet

button more than 3,400 times in just

over 2,200 days. He shares what he

thinks, does and sees in the world of

sustainability. This is his selection of

tweets from the past quarter.

“Unilever faced down a hostile

takeover bid that would have pretty

much scuppered the company’s

sustainability aspirations. As it turns

out, a long-term responsible strategy

may well be in jeopardy when facing

a group of shareholders baying for

short-term returns.”

“Shareholders may of course

have very good reasons to call

management to account. In this case,

I’m finding it hard to decide whether

this was truly what was going on

or whether Unilever was facing

‘barbarians at the gate’. What matters

is that these kinds of tensions will

always be part and parcel of running

a company. Whereas one group of

shareholders may be happy to see

sustainable policies aimed at creating

value in the long term, another group

may well seek to lock in higher short-

term gains.”


Richard (re)tweets:

“We’re all set for the soft launch

of our new pavilion at the Gustav

Mahlerplein in Amsterdam’s Zuidas

business district. Its official opening

is scheduled for September. I’m

inordinately proud of this building,

which started life as a very boring

and functional project. The bank

needed more meeting space and

the city council wanted something

done with the square. It wasn’t until

the concrete foundation had been

poured and construction was under

way that we changed course. Not at

five to twelve, then, but at a quarter

past. Now that takes real guts and

leadership.

“This reversal came about when

colleagues wondered aloud at a

meeting about how far sustainability

had played a part in the design of

the building. The answer didn’t really

satisfy anyone, including the design

and construction teams. And so

they decided to jump in at the deep

end and completely change course,

binning the old design and creating a

‘circular’ building.

“Changing the project at this late

hour of course means that its costs

have turned out higher. Paying our

dues, as far as I’m concerned.

Everyone – we at ABN AMRO

and our external partners alike – is

incredibly proud of what we’ve

pulled off. And we’ve learned an

awful lot about circular building in the

process. Our new pavilion radiates

openness and transparency and tells

the story of our bank being part of

society – values everyone wants to

reflect. We’ll soon be looking at a

great meeting place for the circular

economy.”

“Many refugees who end up in this

country would like to contribute to

our society. Often, we have no idea

how hard it is for a newcomer to

start a new life in an entirely new

environment. Starbucks is helping

them to find their way. In fact, I see

a duty here for all companies to give

these people a leg-up.

“ABN AMRO is doing its bit.

We’ve joined forces with several

foundations and societies to help get

these newcomers up and running

quickly. There’s a lot of red tape

when they try to integrate and find

work, making it harder to achieve

the right qualifications to start their

lives here. These refugees aren’t a

problem, they’re just people keen to

contribute to our society. It’s good to

give them a helping hand.”


Richard (re)tweets:

“On the Wednesday of the

Rotterdam World Tennis Tournament

(WTT), ABN AMRO organised Kids

Day, offering hundreds of children

tennis lessons, coaching and the

chance to watch some great tennis.”

“Our energy boot camp aimed

to make children aware of their

energy consumption and what they

themselves can do to reduce their

footprint. They were invited to pedal

an exercise bike to power a computer

game, for instance, and saw the

screen go black when they stopped

cycling. And the energy dance floor

would take pictures of the children

once they’d charged up the battery

with their dancing. Smile!”

“Innovation and sustainability are two

sides of the same coin. Blockchain

is basically no more than technology

– one that can be used to make

small and big transactions cheaper

and simpler. And also one that could

drive tremendous growth of the

collaborative economy and so feed

our society’s sustainability. Take that

power drill you have sitting in your tool

shed, for instance. You’ll use it only 22

minutes of its entire useful life, and

the other 20 years it’ll do absolutely

nothing. Isn’t it crazy that most people

have one of these things?”

“Many people today feel it’s a lot of

hassle to share equipment though.

How do you get it back from your

neighbour when you need it and what

happens if it breaks down when on

loan? Blockchain can help.”

“Let’s assume that we use this

technology to register all our

equipment, from cars to power drills

– it would allow us to see who has

these things on loan at all times.

A register could be linked up to a

payments system, making it easy

to pay just for use. The need to own

a great many things would rapidly

evaporate.”

“As soon as a service such as this

becomes a no-brainer, these types of

development can quickly be taken up

by large numbers of people. And that

shouldn’t take decades to become a

reality.”

“Innovations sometimes have trouble

getting off the ground. But once

they’re embraced, things can move

very rapidly indeed. The electric

car, for instance, gained awareness

because of Elon Musk and his Tesla.

But Tesla is no longer the only one.

Volkswagen, BMW, GM and Toyota

are feeling the heat to get down to

it. And it’s these manufacturers that

are fuelling the tremendous growth

in electric driving, as the chart neatly

shows. But credit where it’s due:

without Elon Musk, we wouldn’t

have got where we are today.”


Van Hall Larenstein, University of Applied Sciences (VHL), prides itself on being as green as

they come. And so, when its buildings were due for major renovation and refurbishment, it

insisted that the work be done in as sustainable a way as possible. As Diane Keizer, member

of the VHL Executive Board, puts it: “We were looking to use both raw materials and

financial resources prudently.” ABN AMRO provided tailored funding for the project.

Offering courses such as

Environmental Science, Land and

Water Management, and Garden

and Landscape Architecture, VHL

– located in the Dutch towns of

Leeuwarden and Velp – focuses

on sustainability by training

students to become professionals

who contribute to a better, more

sustainable world.

“Sustainability was a key prerequisite

when we were looking at a major

renovation,” Keizer recalls. Partly

because of its spin-off from

Wageningen University, VHL

needed more workspaces for both

students and staff. ABN AMRO

agreed to finance the plan, as it

aspires to accelerate the transition

to sustainable property in the

Netherlands, and particularly to make

existing buildings such as VHL’s more

sustainable.

VHL’s plan proved a great fit. Keizer

says: “Both locations now boast

solar panels on their roofs and we

have LED lighting everywhere. And

we’re using geothermal power to

take care of our cooling and heating

needs.” All measures that ensure

lower energy consumption, where

possible supported by recycling to

save money and resources. “We

actually used second-hand furniture

in our new workspaces.”

Invisible

The renovation resulted in over

10,000 square metres of extra

workspace for both students and

staff. “Our end-users were key:

students and employees on our

campus. And we got them closely

How to renovate a green university

Sustainable renovation


Sustainable renovation

involved in the process,” Keizer notes

(see Box).

The response has been very

encouraging – and particularly when

the constant cold draught in one

of the buildings was solved by an

energy-saving revolving door. “It’s

very important to keep everyone in

the loop,” Keizer found out. “Much

of the sustainable investment isn’t

immediately visible: environmentally

friendly paint and recycled carpeting

don’t stand out as sustainability

improvements – whereas massive

photo collages of animals and

landscapes on the walls do, of

course. These ‘tapestries’ provide

insulation and improve the buildings’

acoustics.”

Budget

Keizer is familiar with stories of

education establishments whose

renovations tripped them into

financial deficit, or that took much

longer than planned. “We wanted to

stay within budget and within a very

tight timescale – it all had to be done

in the summer vacation so as not

to interfere with our teaching.” The

renovation helped to ensure that VHL

no longer needed to rent separate

facilities, freeing up money for the

€12 million project. And ABN AMRO

stepped in to finance the shortfall.

Keizer enjoyed working with the

bank, and not just because of

favourable terms and conditions – its

experience in funding sustainability

initiatives at other education

institutions also came in handy: “ABN

AMRO factored in VHL’s existing

financial buffer, only a proportion

of which was put towards the

renovation, as it was clear that the

university needed a buffer.” The bank

suggested a dormant credit line,

to be used in emergencies only.

“Anything we don’t borrow, we won’t

need to pay interest on either. Taking

a prudent approach to available

financial resources is another aspect

of sustainability.”

ABN AMRO

Sustainable Banking

Gustav Mahlerlaan 10, 1082 PP Amsterdam

P.O. Box 283, 1000 EA Amsterdam

The Netherlands

abnamro.com/duurzaam-bankieren

[email protected]

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the how and why #7 sustainable banking - abn amro · 2019. 10. 29. · circular economy as a model...

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