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. As such, we aim to fulfil our responsibility through a reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in our own operational locations, through our sustainable financial products and services as well as through our climate-related risk management. With our new ACT-26 corporate strategy, we also demonstrate our commitment to the quantitative targets of the Paris climate agreement.

Climate-neutral bank

The LLB Group’s banking operations have been certified as climate-neutral by Swiss climate foundation “myclimate” since 2021. Initially, this has been achieved primarily through the purchase of climate certificates. Here, we solely finance environmental protection based projects where carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere – so-called carbon-removal projects (see chapter “Responsibilities for the economy, society and environment”). We intend to continue to proceed resolutely down this path in the future, too. Parallel to the certificates, we will implement additional measures to further reduce CO₂ emissions within the LLB Group. These include using regenerative energy sources, installing photovoltaic systems, increasing energy efficiency and promoting economical use of resources.

We aim to achieve complete climate neutrality, i.e. net zero CO₂ emissions, both in our banking operations and with our products by 2040. By reducing our CO₂ footprint and by identifying and managing climate-related risks, we are not only making our contribution to climate protection, but also protecting our business operations from damage and safeguarding our services for all of our stakeholders.

New sustainability governance

The LLB Group has set up a new governance structure, with effect from 2022, to ensure that sustainability concerns, including climate management, are addressed at all levels of the hierarchy. It enables decision makers and employees alike to take climate-related risks and opportunities into account and to include them in strategic and operational considerations (see section “Sustainability governance of the LLB Group”). Furthermore, climate risks are integrated into the LLB Group’s regular risk management structure (see section “Governance in risk management”).

Transparent reporting

We, as the LLB Group, are committed to open and transparent reporting. That is why in 2022 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.

We have provided information on Scope 3 emissions from bank products and own investments in our TCFD report, which was published for the first time in autumn 2022 and is based on the internationally recognised standards of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

1Emissions are grouped into so-called Scopes:
Scope 1 includes all direct emissions caused by combustion.
Scope 2 includes emissions caused by purchased energy (electricity, district heating).
Scope 3 includes emissions caused by purchased inputs and third-party services.

Development of CO₂ emissions

CO₂ emissions rose by almost 12 per cent in 2022 compared to 2021. This rise was due to the gradual return of commuter and business travel, which had declined sharply in the previous two years under COVID-19 restrictions. Measures taken to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions (Scope 1: –44 %; Scope 2: –7 %) – including energy savings through the use of target heating temperatures, the swap to LED lights and the switch from conventional gas to biogas – could not fully offset the rise in 2022. (See table below.)

CO₂ footprint within the LLB Group

At 70 per cent, the vast majority of our emissions in 2022 were attributable to LLB AG and its subsidiaries in Liechtenstein, with LLB Österreich and Bank Linth roughly splitting the other 30 per cent. As expected, in 2022, Scope 3 emissions (not including products and own investments) far exceeded the CO₂ emissions generated by the emissions captured in Scope 1 and 2.

Main sources of CO₂ emissions

Mobility is the biggest driver of emissions in the LLB Group’s banking operations. In 2022, it was responsible for about two thirds of total CO₂ emissions. Commuting by employees accounted for about 80 per cent and business travel for about 20 per cent of these emissions.

There are, however, clear differences across the individual business units. While LLB AG and its subsidiaries in Liechtenstein produce an average of 3.4 t/CO₂ per employee (FTE), Bank Linth and LLB Österreich produce considerably less, namely 2.7 t/CO₂ and 1.9 t/CO₂ respectively. Emissions were significantly lower in 2021 due to the said one-off effects, 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.

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 agreement and has conducted a thorough analysis of its ecological footprint. It has nevertheless taken significant measures in previous years to reduce CO₂ emissions, ranging from employee mobility to 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 at our locations in Liechtenstein 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 50.00 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 (LCCI) “Mit dem Rad zur Arbeit” (Cycling to work).

These measures are having an effect: out of all LLB employees in Liechtenstein, 365 (2021: 355) now come to work by bus, bike or on foot; this corresponds to 48 per cent. We have installed nine electric charging points in all at six locations in Liechtenstein. They are primarily available for use by staff, but can also be used by our clients.

Climate-conscious energy supply

The organisational unit Facility Management identifies potential energy savings and evaluates the effect of efficiency measures. Again in 2022, efforts were made to increase the efficiency of the facilities where possible. LLB also expects further savings from its preparations for power shortages. The parent bank managed to reduce its electricity consumption by 2.6 per cent, or 84’327 kWh, in the reporting year compared to 2021. LLB AG and LLB Österreich have already completely switched over to green electricity; at 93 per cent, Bank Linth has largely completed its switchover. We have also installed photovoltaic systems at our locations in Uznach and Eschen. In 2023, we plan to install another two systems, namely at the Haus Wuhr Ost and at the Haus Äule.

The LLB buildings that used natural gas were fully switched to biogas from 1 July 2022. As a result, gas consumption at LLB in Liechtenstein was 24.7 per cent lower in 2022 than in 2021. Bank Linth had undergone the switch back in 2021.

Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions LLB Group