Dear Readers,
Combating climate change is not only about dealing with environmental problems, but also an indispensable reality for economic development today. Global efforts to ensure a sustainable future now include comprehensive regulatory rules for green transformation that also cover economic actors. For companies to increase climate resilience and comply with changing business rules, implementing green transformation from today onwards should be a strategic priority for the continuity of their activities in tomorrow's world.
However, this transformation journey is not an easy process and not equal for all stakeholders. Companies need knowledge and workforce to develop basic green transformation strategies and financial resources to implement their plans. This situation shows that Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) with limited resources need financing, information, and guidance in their green transformation journey.
In recent years, regulatory rules related to climate change and sustainability have become mandatory, increasing the sanctions for not going green. The European Union, which leads the fight against the global climate crisis, has announced that it will subject the products it imports to carbon taxation from 2026 with the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (BCAM) that goes beyond the Emissions Trading System (ETS) it applies within its borders to achieve the 2050 Net Zero continent target. This regulation carries cost increase and market loss risks for companies with high carbon footprints.
On the other hand, it is possible to turn the risk into an opportunity by taking early action during the transformation process. The output of the actions taken by companies during this process will not only be green transformation but also an economic transformation movement. Although this process seems challenging for SMEs considering their scale and capacity, I believe that they can lead the green revolution and trigger the economic transformation by moving much faster thanks to their agility. However, while SMEs progress in this process, one of the most important needs is access to finance, and the presence of institutions and actors that will guide them.
We take steps to adapt our business practices to sustainability standards in line with our vision of leading this issue. We position our impact area as supporting our customers to gain awareness about decarbonization processes and guiding them on which investments to make. Furthermore, we take a role in our banking processes that not only finances but also encourages and rewards green transformation.
As QNB, we are aware of the important role of SMEs in green transformation; we have launched the Green Transformation Loan program focuses on seven sectors, including textiles, automotive, food, construction, tourism, iron and steel, and chemicals, with high carbon intensity. For each sector, we prioritize the investment issues that our customers need to focus on, based on their sectoral dynamics. To make our consultancy sustainable in the decarbonization process and focus on investment needs, we also provide training to our branch employees within the framework of our green transformation credit program. We aim to guide our customers in gaining transformation awareness with the support of our branch teams equipped with knowledge in this regard, and then selecting the right investment for themselves.
After our consultancy process, we finance our customers' investment needs with appropriate maturities and interest rates. At this point, the most important thing we value in the program is that our role does not end after providing financing. We monitor our customers' environmental performance during the credit term and offer different pricing advantages to customers who prove to have a positive environmental impact during the credit term.
Through our collaboration with TOBB & Captanomy, we provide quick and easy access to digital solutions that will calculate and report our customers' carbon footprints within our Digital Bridge Platform. Our customers can benefit from special pricing as they prove to reduce their carbon footprint through this platform. We will continue to enrich the Digital Bridge-Bencimin One With The World (Dünyayla1) area with innovative services and solutions we offer, in addition to the collaborations we make according to our customers' demands and needs, while managing this process where our production, consumption, and all our lifestyles are changing.
Strong regulations such as the CBAM on climate change are the building blocks of global policies that will shape our future. While managing this process where production, consumption, and all our lifestyles are changing, we need to do it with collective consciousness.
Therefore, as QNB , we aim to go beyond our financial support and show that we are with our customers on this journey by increasing our strength with new business partners every day. We will continue to work with our customers on the sustainability journey and strengthen their climate resilience with the products and services we offer.
Engin Turhan
Executive Vice President of SME & Commercial Banking
