50 million parcel shipments. The forecasts of the UNO Logistics employer on orders during this week of Black Friday exceed 30% than last year’s deliveries.

An average of 3.5 million per day reflecting the e-commerce boom of the covid era. More purchases per inhabitant with a clear requirement: that they arrive as soon as possible and without shipping costs. Prerogatives that parcel companies struggle to make a reality in the face of the great competition that has been installed in the logistics sector.

But this comfort has a high price, both for the business fabric of our country and for all citizens. On the one hand, the demand for greater speed squeezes parcel companies due to the high cost of fulfilling this task and the free delivery of shipments suffocates SMEs, which cannot survive on these margins.

And on the other, this consumerism, especially on dates like Black Friday, increases the carbon footprint that threatens to irreparably damage the environment.

For several years, thousands of experts from various areas (parcel companies, universities, environmental associations, etc.) have invited society to reflect on the importance of promoting a sustainable consumption habit, and this implies modifying the way in which we shop by Internet and the shipping option that we select so that our packages arrive at our house.

“We have gotten used to having things in the moment. We must be aware that this has consequences for our environment.

Not everything is urgent, but taking care of the planet, yes ”, explains Elena Fernández, deputy director of International Relations, head of the Department of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability of Correos. The first step, explains the specialist, is to know what happens when we click on the fastest shipping option in an online store .

Although we have become accustomed to buying at any time and at any time of the day (one in five Americans does so when they are in the bathroom, according to research from the University of California), the logistics management of our orders obeys certain times and Very marked schedules so that parcel companies can weave effective delivery routes.

For years, online storesThey warned that buying a product (normally) after 6:00 p.m. could take another day to arrive at your door, since these businesses sent all orders for the day to the logistics centers, which then distributed them by homes.

Delivery times, by then, were around the week, with special payments for faster shipments. Acceptable circumstance for these companies. That has been broken: the normal time has been set at two days, and even 24 and sometimes 12 hours.

This desired speed of customers forces stores and delivery companies to skip those time slots and use half-filled vans or trucks to meet delivery times.

“When making an urgent shipment, we have to be aware that a greater number of vehicles are needed, since you cannot wait to receive more cargo to fill all the vans. And the technologies chosen to transport these express deliveries are not the same. that less CO 2 emits “, says Fernández.

Like most experts, Elena Fernández, Deputy Director of International Relations, Head of the Department of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability of Correos, It is clear that the massification of shipments is a severe blow to the welfare state in large cities (noise, traffic jams, pollution …).

For this reason, Correos has been working for years to transform its fleet to guarantee responsible and environmentally friendly shipments. It already has a thousand electric vehicles and five CNG (hybrids) in circulation, and hopes to incorporate another 200 electric vehicles and another 70 hybrids by the end of this year.

“It is possible to send a 100% electric rate to Barcelona. With current technology, we connect our [communication] network with the railway stations and, within 72 hours, almost any 100% electrical connection can be made ”, explains Fernández.

The expert adds that it is very important that customers are aware that excessive speed must be put aside and bet on electricity alternatives and sustainable shipments.

In fact, Correos already offers on its website, with the possibility of choosing Responsible Shipping , an option in which the company prioritizes above all a sustainable management of the order, but without losing efficiency and security.

“Giving up immediacy allows consolidating shipments, achieving maximum vehicle efficiency by bringing them to full load and reducing emissions per shipment,” explains Fernández.

This point not only affects the economy of companies (doubling logistics spending in several years with the same profit margins as five years ago is financially unviable), but it can affect our health. In fact, air pollution in large cities caused 92,672 premature deaths during the first decade of the millennium, according to the latest data analyzed in 2019 by the DKV Observatory for Health and the Environment.

Figures that indicate a period of time before the e-commerce boom and the growth of mass shipments, so in all probability the emissions are bigger now and the consequences, predictably, much worse.

Hence the importance of everyone knowing how to choose how to buy. Miguel Jaller, an expert on sustainable transport at the University of California, does not doubt that it is customers who must give companies more flexibility.

“With a five-day lead time, [companies] can wait for all products to arrive from different destinations and consolidate all shipments into, say, a full truck,” Jaller explains of the great fuel and management savings. that can be won with delivery times of one week.

Some companies have already added a tab in their Green Shipping or Responsible Shipping options ,with which it is committed to send it in a sustainable way in a longer delivery time.
“Receiving a product in 24 hours or even in 12 hours does not have a significant impact on our day to day life. However, it does have a significant impact on the environment,” says Fernández.

Another of the workhorses of packaging companies and online stores (and that also seriously affects the environment) are returns. In fact, in recent years these have grown by around 10% during the week of Black Friday, according to estimates by UNO Logística.

It is possible to think that this year they will increase due to mobility restrictions and the decrease in commerce in physical stores (up to 27% less sales, according to data from the cashbank companyiGraal, belonging to Global Savings Group).

To this is added that more and more companies offer a free returns service and also in a short period of time. This increases the use of vehicles, which generate more traffic problems and more emissions.

“Consumers have to realize that a return doubles the CO 2 emissions of a normal order. In the US alone, total returns generate a total of 15 million tons per year. In Europe the data is similar,” he warns Fernandez.

There are options to reduce this reverse logistics. For clothes, the simplest is to look for size charts on the Internet, that is, a comparative index of measurements according to the brand or store where you want to buy to get it right the first time.

There are companies that already incorporate these guides in their web stores. Of course, the option of buying the same garment in different sizes, keeping the right one and returning the rest should be discarded. For other products such as electronic devices, it is advisable to go to the physical establishment to test it and then buy it from home.

It is useless to follow the steps above if we do not investigate where the products we buy come from. That is, if they are manufactured in a sustainable way and with fair working conditions. The coloring textile plants of developing countries that use products that are harmful to the environment and child labor are well known.

A business that does not stop growing because of excessive consumerism. In contrast, there are trends such as the slowlife movement(slow life, in Spanish) that was born to promote a less busy way of life and with a more sustainable supply, with products from local businesses (or fair market) and without accumulation of unnecessary objects.

“We must not forget that this type of purchase not only improves the economy of a country, but is also more respectful of the environment. An international shipment is three times more polluting than a national one,” warns Fernández.

On the other hand, environmental associations and representatives of the European Commission have created Green Friday, an alternative to Black Friday that seeks to encourage citizens to consume less compulsive during these days.

They encourage you to spend that day in the field, with your family or, in the case of buying, to have it done in establishments with a sustainable business model. There are also other similar solidarity-based initiatives, such as Giving Tusday, which proposes to allocate financial or material aid to social causes on the first Wednesday in December.

Less than two hours by car from Madrid is the Serranía Celtiberica, a large territory that accounts for 13% of the total area of ​​Spain and extends over ten provinces distributed between Aragon, Valencia, Castilla y León, La Rioja and Castilla-La Mancha.

More than 63,000 square kilometers (twice the size of Belgium) that includes 1,632 municipalities, in which barely half a million people live. Or what is the same, 7.98 inhabitants per square kilometer.

The epicenter of this demographic wasteland is the Montes Universales region, between Teruel and Cuenca, with a lower population density than Lapland. It is the most unpopulated, most forgotten and emptiest area in Spain: 3,500 square kilometers (more or less like the province of Gipuzkoa), with 1.69 inhabitants per square kilometer.

A demographic desert inhabited by an aging population, without generational change, in which young people emigrate in the absence of job opportunities. A very similar situation is repeated in other corners of the country: Galicia, Andalusia, Extremadura, Asturias, Cantabria …

The demographic challenge is one of the great issues facing Spain. But this problem, shared by many European regions and countries, presents different peculiarities in each of them. For this reason, each state must approach it with a personalized approach, according to the EU officials.

In the case of Spain, the situation calls for the need to take action. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the birth rate has decreased by 30% in the last decade. Furthermore, the number of children per woman (1,2) has also fallen by 40% in the last 10 years.

However, three out of four women would like to have at least two children, but cannot do so due to work or conciliation difficulties. If Spain continues on this path, the United Nations predicts that by 2050 it will be the second oldest country in the world, only behind Japan, with the consequent impact on productivity and growth.

These data show the need to generate a change in the management models of companies, so that they include policies to support the birth rate, such as joint responsibility and flexibility.

They also demonstrate the importance of establishing immigration policies that help, in part, to counteract the negative evolution of the Spanish demography. But the question goes much further, because it affects the future of the Welfare State itself: pensions, health care spending or job replacement.

According to the INE, the birth rate in Spain has fallen by 30% in the last decade. If it continues on this path, the United Nations predicts that by 2050 it will be the second oldest country in the world.

The president of Banco Santander, Ana Botín, has recognized on numerous occasions that “facing demographic challenges” is crucial in a society that is increasingly aware of sustainability. In fact, the bank supports and finances numerous proposals aimed at finding solutions to this problem.

Two examples are the Business Demographic Responsibility initiative (which seeks to incorporate the demographic challenge into the policies of Human Sustainability, Social Responsibility and People Management of companies), or the National Entrepreneurs Fair, which aims to establish alliances and facilitate investments in the environment. rural.

Likewise, the financial institution has opted to develop different programs aimed at promoting equality and the integration of women in the workplace.

This is the case of Santander Reencuentra , whose objective is to help those women who abandoned their professional career for family reasons to rejoin the labor market in companies in their environment.

In addition to temporary professional experience, the program includes training, coaching and mentoring actions to generate value and increase the employability of these women, who have been out of the labor market for between five and ten years.

In this first edition, one hundred women have participated. One of them is Clara Longares, who after becoming a mother saw her life change.

“You see that you cannot re-engage in anything because the worst of all is how isolated you are,” she recalls. For Clara, this Banco Santander initiative is a message of encouragement for this group, since “the important thing is to feel valued and to be active again.

There is still much to be done”. And she adds: “You have to keep believing in yourself, that is one of the biggest battles we women have. Believe that we can contribute much more than you think, that we are there with everything ”.

Another program promoted by Banco Santander headed in the same line is women with S . This mentoring initiative , which is part of the Generation 81 program, seeks to reinforce the leadership of women who want to grow in the professional field, whether to promote to a management position, start their own project or develop within their sector.

This proposal aims to unite successful women with those who pursue it, so that all are nurtured by the inspiration necessary to advance their goals.

The bank has also applied various corporate measures and equality plans in the different countries in which it operates, with the aim of achieving gender pay equity by 2025.

Work-life balance is another key issue for those responsible for the entity financial institution, which has developed minimum standards for maternity and paternity leave. The idea is to ensure that employees can balance work and life outside the office.

Likewise, Banco Santander has made available to its staff a system that allows them to make their place and working hours more flexible.

Ana Botín herself recognizes that, in order to build a more responsible bank, it is essential to “treat each worker in a simple, personal and fair way”.

“Balancing work and family life can be difficult, so we want to help our employees do so. This is how we demonstrate our commitment to supporting them and promoting diversity and equality. There is still much to do, but this is an important step in the right direction ”, he emphasizes.

Large fund managers have different views on where investment should be concentrated

The encouraging news about the vaccines and their upcoming distribution herald the end of the pandemic.

It is time, therefore, to reposition the portfolios in this new situation, but the great fund managers do not agree on how to do it.

Thus, in the first place, JP Morgan Asset Management does not focus so much on the region where the investor can position itself, but rather is in favor of buying shares in travel companies, airlines and hotels , precisely the sectors that suffered the most with the coronavirus, regardless of the country.

“Rotation in the equities sector could dominate investor discussion in the coming months,” says Tai Hui, Asia market strategist at JP Morgan.

“We believe that investors may seek to diversify their allocations to take advantage of potential good news about vaccine development,” he explains.

Three regions with great investment potential.For its part, Fidelity’s multi-asset team puts more focus on the region that may be a winner after Covid. He believes that now is the time to put on more weight in regions like Europe that are severely affected by the virus, betting that they will improve thanks to the vaccine.

For the manager, Europe would fall into that category because in the region the virus evolved with great violence. But with the news of the vaccine, European equities, on average, have risen more than 7% since November 9.

Instead, Franklin Templeton argues that it is still too early to move away from places like Asia that handled the crisis better.

Stephen Dover, Franklin Templeton’s chief equity officer, believes there are still months at least before any vaccine can be widely deployed, and that means Asian stocks are still the place to be.

The reason is that “Asia can benefit from being able to function fully economically while the West awaits full vaccines,” he says.

As for US equities, they hit new highs on Tuesday with the Dow Jones climbing above 30,000 points for the first time. Global stocks are poised to deliver the best November performance in their history, while Asian stocks are on track for the best gains since 2009 this month.

All in all, there is a general opinion that the markets are being very optimistic. “We think the markets are too optimistic about the speed of a global vaccine launch,” explains Ross Cameron of Northcape Capital in Tokyo.

“It will take a lot of time and money” to vaccinate the entire population, warns Cameron.

Reducing greenhouse gases is one of the main tools to combat climate change. Most countries agree that it is necessary to develop decarbonisation and transition programs towards a greener and more sustainable economy.

The new president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, has already announced that one of his highest priorities is the implementation of a Green New Deal that involves resuming the path of the Paris Climate Agreements.

The goal of the new Democratic Administration is to lead the fight against the climate emergency by revitalizing the energy sector and driving the growth of its entire economy.

Along the same lines is the EU, which advocates achieving climate neutrality by 2050. To achieve this, it is essential to undertake the decarbonisation of the current energy model.

Furthermore, the covid-19 pandemic has shown how important it is to live in a sustainable world. The latest proposals presented by the Government of Spain also go in this direction.

An example is the Integrated National Plan for Energy and Climate 2021-2030, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 23% compared to 1990.

The project establishes a series of guidelines that should guide investment to transform the productive and economic fabric, and raises an investment of more than 240,000 million euros.

Its pillars focus on a change in the energy generation model towards clean instruments, the transformation of buildings into energy saving models, the creation of a large fleet of electric cars and the urban transition towards cities with low emissions.

In recent weeks, the Government has also published the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan for the Spanish Economy.

This roadmap, which will guide the implementation of the 72,000 million euros of European funds until 2023, pays special attention to the ecological transition.

To achieve all these objectives, it is essential to raise awareness among the entire population and join forces. Only in this way will it be possible to move towards a production model that is far from fossil energy sources and carbon emissions.

“We must build a green economy, which requires a great change not only in how we do business but also in how we live,” said the president of Banco Santander, Ana Botín recently.

The bank works on numerous sustainable projects aimed at preserving the health of the planet. In line with its Responsible Banking strategy, the entity has committed to financing or facilitating the mobilization of 120,000 million euros between 2019 and 2025 and 220,000 million until 2030 to combat climate change. Only last year, it allocated 19,000 million euros for green financing.

Thus, Banco Santander has adhered to the Collective Commitment to Climate Action to accelerate the transition of the financial sector towards a low-carbon economy.

Also to the Alliance for Green Recovery (Green Recovery Alliance), promoted by the European Parliament, to support and promote the mobilization of green investment packages that act as accelerators of a transition towards climate neutrality and healthy ecosystems. In addition, at COP25 held in Madrid last year, the entity committed to being carbon neutral in 2020.

The bank’s commitment to the environment goes back a long way. Already in 2019, it was the world leader in financing renewable energy projects, with a total portfolio of 10,030 million euros at the end of the year distributed in 17 countries (166 wind and 145 solar projects), avoiding the emission of 63 million tons of CO2.

Also last year, the bank issued its first green bond worth 1 billion euros as a starting point for a sustainable global emissions plan and in June 2020 it issued a second bond for the same value.

At COP25 held in Madrid last year, the entity pledged to be carbon neutral in 2020

At the local level, the entity promotes numerous initiatives in the countries in which it operates to achieve its global objectives and also promote sustainable growth among its clients.

One of the last carried out in Spain has been the creation of the first seal evaluated by AENOR that qualifies the sustainability of Spanish SMEs to help companies with up to 50 million in turnover to obtain a sustainability rating that allows them to differentiate themselves from their customers and suppliers and to structure, know and improve the information and the level of implementation of areas of sustainability that may be needed in certain public tenders.

January 2020. Fundación Grandes Amigos, which has been working since 2003 to prevent and alleviate the loneliness of the elderly through the creation of affective bonds and neighborhood support with volunteers, receives one of the 2019 Social Value Awards from the Cepsa Foundation.

The distinction is a vital economic injection to reinvent itself when, shortly after, the health crisis explodes.

“It is allowing us to promote two lines of work that we have been developing and that are increasingly necessary: ​​facilitating a volunteer to accompany the elderly person alone to medical appointments or administrative procedures, and maintaining our program of emotional support by telephone [which includes video calls even sending letters], launched at the beginning of the pandemic, and which will continue to function when it ends, after its good results ”,

“One of the issues that we value is that, regardless of the group to which it is directed, the project has an innovative component, either because of the approach that differentiates it from the rest, because of the tools it uses or because of the ability to face new challenges” , says Cristina Ortiz, director of Fundación Cepsa.

“We have verified that many entities have adapted in an exemplary way to the crisis caused by Covid-19, with innovative initiatives based entirely on new technologies,” he adds, referring to the 435 projects that are nominated for the 16th edition of the Social Value Awards, the 2020 one, presented in September. Record of candidatures and also of economic endowment, which increases by 100,000 euros, reaching 500,000.

“The elderly are the main affected by this crisis,” warns Palacios. But there are other vulnerable groups that are also very affected. Unemployed, sick, people with functional diversity, ethnic groups, childhood, youth and adolescents, victims of gender violence …

Behind such a generic word as “collective” there are always concrete faces.

Cristina Ortiz remembers “as if it were yesterday” that of that mother with her daughter diagnosed with congenital heart disease at the trophy ceremony for the 2019 edition in Madrid.

“It was exciting to see that this mother never felt alone to face her reality and received support from the professionals of the winning entity,” she describes.

“I felt great admiration when a young woman with different abilities showed us, with a wide smile, what had meant for her the help of another of the award-winning entities to promote her social inclusion and thus be able to practice one of her biggest hobbies , sport ”Indicates in another example.

Cepsa workers are godfathers and godmothers of the projects that compete for the social value awards

The Social Value Awards were created 15 years ago in response to “a need for change and improvement”, in Ortiz’s words.

“They were born with the objective of being able to carry out social projects in a fair and transparent way,” he adds.

They were delivered for the first time in 2005, in Huelva, with a distinctive element: it was (and still are) the professionals of the energy company who become solidarity godfathers and godmothers, proposing programs likely to be candidates, accompanying them during the process and being their representatives.

That first edition was so successful that it was extended to other geographical areas in which Cepsa has a significant presence: Madrid, the Canary Islands, Campo de Gibraltar and Portugal in 2009; Colombia in 2012 and Brazil in 2016.

That year, 2016, the Cepsa Foundation was created to channel the company’s social action, and these awards became its backbone. According to Ortiz, from the beginning they had the support of local and regional administrations.

“One of the changes that we have been observing in each edition is the trust that the entities place in this call for social assistance”, he emphasizes.

Fundación Cepsa maintains a “lasting bond” with the awarded entities. “It allows us to promote collaborations in corporate volunteering activities or in other projects,” says its director.

All have to send, at the end of the year, and as a control mechanism, the justification report. “In addition to the activities carried out, they detail the economic justification with the expenses that have been incurred for the implementation of the solidarity initiative,” he adds.

There are also follow-up visits. One of those that most impacted Ortiz was the Candelita entity, in Madrid, and its project Mirada en Violeta, to promote access to the labor market through cooking training for women victims of violence.

“They are admirable for how, despite fear, they took this opportunity to feel useful and be financially independent,” he concludes. Many of them already have a stable employment contract.

In addition to financially reinforcing the Social Value Awards, Cepsa is carrying out special work during 2020 to support actions that contribute to alleviating the consequences of covid-19.

Its employees have donated money to the food bank campaign to buy 480,000 kilos of basic products, which will ensure the feeding of more than 3,200 people for two months.

Cepsa Foundation offers emergency aid to food banks in Portugal. It has donated medical supplies in Colombia, contributed to the emergency kitchen set up in Huelva and supported the urgent medical movements of the Red Cross.

It has also delivered fuel cards to the health authorities of Madrid, the Canary Islands, Huelva and Cádiz to collaborate in the displacement of health and other groups that work in the fight against the coronavirus.

Together with the Persán Foundation, it has contributed money to supply cleaning and home care products to 18,000 vulnerable families in Seville, Huelva and Campo de Gibraltar.

Through its corporate volunteering program, Voluntas , Cepsa professionals collaborate with a telephone support initiative launched by Cáritas and with the sending of letters of encouragement under the impulse of the organization Nadie Solo.

Iberia’s parent company will be the first airline group to test this passport for coronavirus-free travelers

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is working on a mobile application that will help travelers demonstrate their coronavirus-free status, which is one more twist to approach the so-called Covid passports.

The Travel Pass will display the results of the test for the presence of coronavirus along with the vaccine inoculation test, as well as a list of national entry rules and details on the nearest laboratories.

The application will also be linked to a copy of the holder’s passport to prove their identity.

Conglomerate IAG, parent of British Airways and Iberia, will be the first group to start testing it and it could reach Apple devices in the first quarter of 2021 and Android from April, IATA said.

Travelers will be able to share their status with border authorities or present a QR Code to scan.

In this regard, Qantas Airways noted on Monday that a Covid-19 vaccine will be necessary for its international passengers.

IAG will promote the Covid passport to recover international flights

In fact, the head of the airline, Alan Joyce, believes that it will very likely become a requirement for boarding around the world. “It’s going to be a common theme across the board,” explained Joyce.

The passport would save international travel. While international travel remains stalled amid a patchwork of local restrictions and closures , countries are beginning to incorporate tests to shorten or eliminate quarantines for arriving passengers.

To this must be added that the vaccines will still take a long time to arrive, so the strategy is based on implementing the technology to design mechanisms to confirm that one is free of the disease before traveling.

International SOS co-founder Arnaud Vaissie warned in an interview that there is a “tremendous fear of traveling and this is what we are trying to mitigate.”

Having to take the car and go to another town to do something as everyday as withdrawing money from the ATM. This is one of the great problems that emptied Spain is facing and one that affects more than half of the Spanish towns: 4,109 out of 8,131 municipalities.

And this has been one of the challenges that Banco Santander has recently solved within the framework of its financial inclusion strategy. A solution achieved thanks to the alliance with Correos, whose capillarity allows it to reach all Spanish homes, no matter how remote.

From the first quarter of 2021, postmen will be able to deliver money to homes and residents in that 75% of municipalities that do not have a Banco Santander branch, but do have a Post Office, They will be able to make withdrawals and cash deposits in the latter completely free of charge.

For 66% of the people who until now had to leave town to access their money, this initiative will change their day.

Financial inclusion and empowerment is one of the lines of action on which Santander focuses its responsible banking strategy.

Lara de Mesa, Global Director of Responsible Banking, summarizes these initiatives, explaining that “one of our challenges is to contribute to inclusive and sustainable growth.

We want to help people and companies to progress; we want to give access to financial services, financing, education and training to as much of the population as possible ”.

The bank committed a year ago, along with 130 other financial entities around the world, to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the United Nations through the Principles of Responsible Banking.

Some of the challenges assumed by Banco Santander are to achieve the financial empowerment of 10 million people between 2019 and 2025, facilitate the mobilization of 120,000 million euros in green financing in the same period or help four million people through programs of social action between 2019 and 2021, to which 715 million have already been allocated since 2002.

The ‘Finances for mortals’ program aims to bring finances closer to the youngest and most vulnerable groups

De Mesa explains the motivations behind these initiatives: “Our employees want us to be a bank with a purpose, our clients increasingly demand responsible business solutions from us, our investors are paying increasing attention to the responsible banking agenda. , just like supervisors and regulators, and the communities in which we are present are facing challenges to which Santander has to contribute solutions ”.

In 2019, the initiatives launched by the entity in the field of financial inclusion empowered two million people around the world, helping the most disadvantaged to access basic financial services, offering specific products tailored to those who had low income or financial difficulties, and fostering resilience through financial education.

In the latter case, more than 580,000 people benefited from financial education programs in 2019 alone.

A year after that agreement on the SDGs, the pandemic has marked the entity’s agenda, which has focused its efforts on responding to the immediate problems of people and companies, with a focus on the most vulnerable groups.

In Spain, one of the most successful financial education programs is Finance for mortals , recognized as one of the main in the country in this area, both by the Bank of Spain and by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), with which is intended to bring finances to all audiences, with special emphasis on the financially most vulnerable groups.

Another of the initiatives promoted by the entity, together with the Spanish Banking Association (AEB) is Your finances, your future , which helps young people between 13 and 15 years old to face financial decisions.

But the commitment to education goes further and is something that is part of Banco Santander’s DNA.

The entity maintains a firm commitment to higher education for more than 20 years and, in response to the urgency and needs generated by the covid-19 crisis, has mobilized close to 30 million euros from its patronage in education to support students with financial difficulties, alleviate the digital divide and accompany universities in their digitization, develop programs to boost the employability of young people in the face of current labor market demands and finance university research projects to provide concrete solutions to the coronavirus.

The most prominent initiative has been the creation of the Supera Covid-19 Fund, in collaboration with Crue Universidades Españolas and CSIC, which has allocated 8.5 million euros to different projects to face the disease and its social impact, in addition to providing solutions for connectivity, webcams and computers to more than 15,000 university students in an unfavorable economic situation to continue with their studies.

During 2021, the residents of 75% of municipalities without branches will be able to operate in their Post offices

Social Action programs have advanced in the same direction, with dozens of projects aimed at helping the most vulnerable groups grouped under the Santander All slogan . Together. Now , which includes all the initiatives launched to alleviate the effects of the health crisis.

Among them is the Together Solidarity Fund , which has allocated more than 54 million to the fight against the disease and its consequences. Additionally, Santander has contributed another 16 million euros by redirecting funds from certain projects to the protection of those vulnerable groups most affected by the disease in several countries.

The way in which Banco Santander has decided to contribute to the SDGs related to the environment and the fight for a green economy is twofold. On the one hand, in the financial aspect: “We want to accompany our clients in their transition towards a low-carbon economy”, explains Lara De Mesa, global director of Responsible Banking.

On the other, the reduction of the environmental footprint of the entity itself. For the first of these challenges, it has been proposed to finance or facilitate the mobilization of 120,000 million euros between 2019 and 2025 and 220,000 million euros until 2030 to combat climate change, aligning its portfolio with the ecological economy.

Already in 2019, the entity mobilized 19,000 million euros in green financing, which made it a world leader in renewable energy financing.

In terms of reducing its environmental footprint, the strategy is focusing on reducing CO2 emissions through energy efficiency, renewable energy and offsetting other emissions.

The objective is that by 2025 100% of its electricity comes from renewable sources and that in the short term the use of unnecessary single-use plastic in its offices and buildings will be eliminated, in addition to committing to being, for the first time, carbon neutral in 2020, offsetting all emissions generated by its own operations.