Impact analysis of Arion Bank’s Green Deposits

In 2020 Arion Bank announced the launch of a new green deposit account, called Green Deposits, the first Icelandic bank to offer such an account. Green Deposits is a savings account designed for individuals, NGOs and companies wanting to contribute towards a greener future. The account is a non-indexed, demand account, which means savers can withdraw their money whenever they want. One of the fundamental roles of banks is to facilitate the flow of funds from savers to borrowers, and deposits are central to this function. Money deposited into Green Deposits is invested in green projects in line with Arion Bank's framework on green deposits.

Seeing the positive environmental impact of lending to green projects provides great incentive and motivation. By investing in Green Deposits our customers are making a positive contribution to the future. Total deposits in Green Deposits at the end of last year amounted to more than ISK 5 billion and the funding of green projects prevented an estimated 22,000 CO2 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. This is equivalent to the annual emissions from 10,000 vehicles powered by fossil fuels.

Green Deposits is going from strength to strength in 2021 and at the end of March total deposits amounted to ISK 9 billion.

CIRCULAR Solutions, which is now owned by KPMG, has assessed the Bank’s green deposits framework, – see the external assurance published by CIRCULAR. The company provides annual assurance of the framework and assesses the environmental impact of the funded projects.

Further information on the impact analysis of Green Deposits can be found in Arion Bank’s 2020 Annual and Sustainability Report.