3rd BBVA Sustainability Forum: Private investment in clean technologies will boost the global sustainable agenda

The Envision CEO explained that banks can play a role, for example, by helping their corporate clients achieve net-zero emissions or providing them with digital and hardware solutions. "That's why I think more innovation should happen in the financial sector," Zhang said. Envision implements leading green technology projects around the world. The company has launched investments in Spain that will reach €4 billion over the next few years, including the upcoming construction of a battery gigafactory in Cáceres province. Lei Zhang's Extremadura commitment was widely appreciated by the attendees.

Carlos Torres Vila insisted on the importance of investing in technology to become competitive in the sustainable transition. "At BBVA we believe in innovation as a lever to achieve decarbonization," he said. He also announced that the bank is expanding its sustainable business offering with the creation of a global unit to finance cleantech innovation. The new venture, based in New York, London and Madrid, will provide lending and advisory services.

Opening the event, Onur Genç, the BBVA CEO, spoke on the investment figures needed to address the major sustainable challenges and bring about a profound economic transformation: $275 trillion by 2050 for climate change mitigation; $27 trillion annually over the next decade for natural capital protection; and $37 trillion by 2030 to drive inclusive growth. This far-reaching global transformation, he said, will only occur if two conditions are met: "Companies, investors and citizens will not make large-scale changes in their behavior unless these make economic sense. We will succeed only if everyone contributes to the solution." Part of the solution are emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). Developed economies, Genç noted, must establish mechanisms to attract private capital to EMDEs and help close their financing gap in the Sustainable Development Goals, which currently stands at $3.9 trillion according to OECD data.