Corporate environmental and climate protection

Information checkedInformation unaudited Information geprüft Information ungeprüft Corporate environmental and climate protection

As a responsibly operating company, it is important to us to contribute to environmental and climate protection and to the conservation of natural resources. With our new ACT-26 corporate strategy, we have set ourselves the goal of playing a pioneering role in this area. Since 2021 the LLB Group’s banking operations have been climate-neutral. And we will continue resolutely down this path. By 2040, we want to achieve complete climate neutrality.

Transparent reporting

We, as the LLB Group, are committed to open and transparent reporting. That is why in 2021 we went over and above the regulatory requirements and by measuring Scope 1, 2 and 3¹ (excluding bank products and own investments) determined all material emission factors for our banking operations. Doing so allows us to identify and compare many more emission sources.

In order to analyse trends and derive targets and measures, the figures for 2019 and 2020 were recalculated to obtain data for comparative purposes. The figures for 2019 in particular would appear important given that it is the last representative business year for the CO₂ footprint before the COVID-19 pandemic and the numerous restrictions it brought with it.

Information on Scope 3 emissions from bank products and own investments, which have been omitted from this report, will be provided in our new TCFD report. Based on the internationally recognised standards of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, it is scheduled to be published for the first time in summer 2022.

Development of CO₂ emissions

CO₂ emissions were significantly lower in 2020 and 2021 compared to 2019, falling from 5’843 t/CO₂ to a 3’319 t/CO₂ and 3’042 t/CO₂ respectively. This reduction in CO₂ emissions is mainly due to one-off effects as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, emissions caused by mobility (commuter and business traffic and business trips) more than halved in the period being compared. By contrast, additional emissions from setting up home office workplaces in 2020 and 2021 were barely significant (see table).

CO₂ footprint within the LLB Group

At 75 per cent, the vast majority of our emissions in the pre-corona year 2019 were attributable to LLB AG and its subsidiaries in Liechtenstein, with LLB (Österreich) and Bank Linth roughly splitting the other 25 per cent. As expected, in 2019, Scope 3 emissions (not including bank products and own investments) far exceeded the CO₂ emissions generated by the emissions captured in Scope 1 and 2.

1Emissions are grouped into so-called Scopes:
Scope 1 includes all direct emissions caused by combustion.
Scope 1 includes all direct emissions caused by combustion.
Scope 3 includes emissions caused by purchased inputs and third-party services.

Main sources of CO₂ emissions

Mobility is the biggest driver of emissions in the LLB Group’s banking operations. In 2019, it was responsible for about three quarters of CO₂ emissions of 4’039 t/CO₂, of which commuting by employees and business trips each accounted for about half. This trend was also clearly visible in both years affected by the corona pandemic.

Across the individual business units though, there are clear differences. While LLB AG and its subsidiaries produce an average of 6.6 t/CO₂ per employee (FTE), Bank Linth and LLB (Österreich) produce considerably less, namely 3.8 t/CO₂ and 3.4 t/CO₂ respectively. In 2020 and 2021, emissions were significantly lower due to the said one-off effects (see table), but the uneven distribution of emissions remained unchanged. The reasons for this are the longer commuting distances to Liechtenstein, which employees from neighbouring countries often do using their own vehicle, as well as greater business travel activity at the Group’s headquarters.

“The corona pandemic also had an impact on our carbon footprint. Because many commuters were in the home office, the emissions caused by mobility were also significantly reduced. By switching to electricity from renewable sources, we were able to have an additional positive impact on our CO₂ emissions."

Measures set

As part of the new ACT-26 corporate strategy, the LLB Group has committed itself for the first time to quantitative targets that are in line with the Paris climate targets and conducted a thorough analysis of the climate footprint. In previous years, it has nevertheless taken significant measures to reduce CO₂ emissions, including employee mobility and our building management.

Corporate mobility management

The LLB Group is committed to keeping the environmental pollution caused by business and commuter traffic as low as possible. We have an incentive scheme to encourage our staff to use public or non-motorised transport or form car pools to get to work. Here, on the one hand, we subsidise the cost of season tickets on public transport and offer a bonus in return for foregoing a parking space. While, on the other hand, we levy parking charges – there are four charge bands and the charge levied depends on the distance to work. We promote the use of non-motorised transport by providing changing facilities and showers with towel services as well as company bicycles at our business locations. We also contribute CHF 50 towards the purchase of a bicycle helmet and motivate our employees to take part in the competition run by the Verkehrs-Club Liechtenstein (VCL) “Radfahren für Ihre Gesundheit” (Cycling for your health) and the one by the Liechtenstein Chamber of Commerce and Industry “Mit dem Rad zur Arbeit” (Cycling to work).

These measures are having an effect: out of all employees in Liechtenstein, 355 (2020: 295) now come to work by bus, bike or on foot; this corresponds to a share of 48 per cent. We have installed nine electric charging points in all at six locations in Liechtenstein. They are primarily available for use by our employees, but can also be used by our clients.

Climate-conscious power-supply

The organisational unit Facility Management identifies potential energy savings and evaluates the effect of efficiency measures. We continue to improve the energy balance of our properties through renovating and refurbishing.

In October 2020, we switched over to certified hydroelectricity for all LLB Group properties in Liechtenstein. This enabled us to reduce CO₂ emissions from electricity consumption by more than 60 per cent by the end of 2021.

LLB (Österreich) switched completely over to green electricity on 1 January 2021, which, among other things, reduced Scope 2 emissions by upwards of 70 per cent.

Climate-neutral bank

The LLB Group’s banking operations have been certified as climate-neutral by Swiss climate foundation “myclimate” since the 2021 reporting year. Initially, this has been achieved primarily through the purchase of climate certificates. These are solely used to finance environmental protection based projects that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – so-called carbon-removal projects (see chapter “Responsibilities for the economy, society and environment”). In parallel, we will be implementing other measures in 2022 and beyond to further reduce CO₂ emissions within the LLB Group.

Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions LLB Group¹