These Central and Southeastern Europe banks are expanding ESG financing, green bonds, and sustainable infrastructure.
Last year may well go down as the year Central and Southeastern Europe truly came to grips with climate change—three heat waves across late spring and summer, unseasonal heavy rain, and serious flooding (which affected harvests across the region) proved that climate change can no longer be ignored.
Banks across the region have recognized the opportunities and are demonstrating ingenuity in developing new green-financing techniques. They are working closely with multinational institutions such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to help implement the EU’s Green Deal and make the continent the world’s first climate-neutral one.
Last year’s Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Sustainable Finance Summit—held in May 2025, with this year’s summit scheduled for September—highlighted the region’s priorities. Many of these reflect CEE’s Communist past, in which pollution was exacerbated by a reliance on polluting coal and lignite and by a system that worked against conservation.
Financing in the energy sector remains key, with CEE aiming to increase the share of renewables from 30% of total energy consumption today to 75% by 2050. In addition, CEE and Southeastern European countries need about €8 billion annually for low-carbon technologies, particularly in infrastructure, transport, and energy.
The summit concluded that although there has been some pushback on ESG, there is growing awareness of the need to recalibrate it, especially where it excludes investments in defense and security. Reflecting the deterioration in Europe’s geopolitical situation over the past few years, among other things, the summit concluded that “security and defense can and should be reframed as part of broader sustainability and resilience agendas. Long-term peace and democracy are fundamental to sustainable societies.”
Raiffeisen Bank International
Best Bank for Sustainable Finance
Best Bank for Green Bonds
Best Bank for Sustainability Bonds
Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is hardly a stranger to sustainable finance—the Austrian-based entity was among the first to sign the UN Principles for Responsible Banking and has embedded ESG across its strategy, now fully aligned with global standards. Since launching its first green bond in 2018, the bank has built a €5 billion sustainable bond portfolio across multiple currencies and countries.
By November 2025, ESG-labeled bonds were worth some €5 billion, 20% of the total €24.6 billion issued. Raiffeisen Bank Hungary issued a successful €300 million in green bonds in June 2025, while RBI’s €500 million benchmark green bond, issued in November 2025, was oversubscribed by a record amount, demonstrating strong demand for the product and the trust in which RBI is held.
One of RBI’s notable sustainable-finance achievements in 2025 was the relaunch of its Sustainability Bond Framework. According to Markus Ecker, RBI’s head of Sustainable Finance, “RBI will expand eligible green-loan categories and further strengthen advisory services to help clients transition. The goal: deeper emissions reductions and accelerated decarbonization across Central and Eastern Europe.”
RBI has also been active in issuing ESG loans: These increased 14.9% YoY to €19.3 billion at the end of September 2025.
Garanti BBVA
Sustainable Finance Deal of the Year: Antalya-Alanya Motorway Project
Best Bank for Sustaining Communities
Garanti BBVA, one of Turkey’s largest banks, with 28 million customers and almost 800 branches, was established in 1946 as Garanti Bank and is now 86% owned by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA). Garanti has made sustainable investment core to its strategy. It seems only right that it should win these two prestigious awards, as its efforts are linked.
The bank’s community investment programs’ strategy comprises four focus areas aimed at sustaining and enriching communities: education for all, reducing inequality, accessible culture and knowledge production, and combating the climate crisis. Garanti monitors the outcomes of its programs using internationally recognized measurement and research techniques through social-impact analysis, ensuring that every Turkish lira invested generates substantially more value.
This emphasis on bringing people together made Garanti BBVA a natural fit for the flagship Antalya-Alanya Motorway Project. The new 122-kilometer motorway connecting Antalya to Alanya is one of Turkey’s major infrastructure developments.
Garanti BBVA participated in €1.7 billion in financing for the project, which will reduce travel time from two-and-a-half hours to just 36 minutes. According to the bank, the motorway will enhance productivity, contribute to overall economic growth, and generate annual savings of approximately 16.9 billion Turkish lira ($385.4 million) in time and 800 million lira in fuel consumption, resulting in a total yearly economic benefit of nearly 17.7 billion lira.
The new corridor will reduce carbon emissions by 47,000 tons per year, helping to preserve the pine forests of the Taurus Mountains as well.
Akbank
Best Impact Investing Solution
Best Bank for Sustainability Transparency
Akbank’s Sustainable Finance Framework—which had a portfolio of almost $4 billion at the start of 2025—is among the most ambitious and far-reaching in Turkey and the wider region, helping the bank to secure three of our CEE regional awards.
Akbank’s submission underscored the seriousness with which it approaches impact investing, stating, “We encourage investors to direct their capital toward areas and companies that contribute to the well-being of the planet.”
To prove it, Akbank launched Turkey’s strategic partnership with the UN Development Programme’s Cool Up program, which seeks to advance sustainable-cooling finance to mitigate the climate impact of cooling technologies.
Regarding sustainability transparency, Akbank has launched a series of initiatives, including active participation in the development of the EU’s Green Asset Ratio calculation criteria in conjunction with the Turkish Banking Association’s Sustainability Working Group and the banking sector’s Green Asset Ratio Working Group.
In 2025, Akbank began implementing the green transformation score for commercial, corporate, and SME clients in the 2030 target sectors. The scores are based on client-level transition practices, such as the availability of science-based climate targets, the implementation or planning of low-carbon practices, and the availability of low-carbon products.
This serious approach to transparency and commitment to social bonds is reflected in the bank’s raising of its sustainable-finance target for 2030 to 800 billion lira, having exceeded the bank’s previous 200 billion Turkish lira target.
PKO Bank Polski
Best Platform/Technology Facilitating Sustainability Finance
In response to customer demand for support with ESG, the energy transition, and sustainability generally, PKO Bank Polski—Poland’s largest bank by assets and a leader in ESG financing and bond issues—launched energiatransformacji.pl in 2025.
The new service, an interactive business hub, offers tools to help customers with their energy transition strategy (carbon footprint calculators and a subsidy search engine) and includes an educational database on ESG, sustainable development, and financing.
The initiative reflects PKO BP’s 2025-2027 strategy to secure a 20% share of Poland’s energy transition financing.
VUB
Circular Economy Commitment
As part of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, VUB has long been committed to the highest ESG standards. Much of this focus has been on the consumer sphere, reflecting the Slovak bank’s strong position in its home market and in Czechia.
A typical example of VUB’s capacity for innovation was the introduction of a new Building Reconstruction Simulator that combines real-time market calculations and expert insight to help homeowners make informed, sustainable decisions when undertaking domestic renovations.
For corporate clients, particularly SMEs, the bank has introduced special minibonds that enable the issuance of direct debt securities to finance ESG-related projects. These include specific offerings to promote the circular economy, as well as the installation of renewable-energy projects and energy-efficiency upgrades.
Bank Pekao
Best Bank for Sustainable Infrastructure/Project Finance
Best Bank for Transition/Sustainability-Linked Loans
Poland’s second-largest bank, established in 1929, has prioritized ESG investing and lending over the past decade, becoming one of the largest players domestically and in the CEE region. In 2025, Bank Pekao unveiled its 2025-2027 strategy, outlining its main plans and priorities, building on its 2023 Sustainable Finance Framework.
In the first three quarters of 2025, Bank Pekao financed green projects totaling 5.1 billion Polish zloty ($1.4 billion), up from 3.7 billion zloty in 2024, aiming to reach 9 billion zloty by the end of 2027.
Along with other banks, Bank Pekao has provided financing for the approximately €6.3 billion construction of the Baltyk 2 and Baltyk 3 wind farms in the Baltic Sea, developed by Polenergia and Equinor. The wind farms have a total capacity of over 1.4 gigawatts and can supply green energy to over 2 million Polish households. The farms should start producing energy in 2027 and reach full operational capacity in 2028.
In 2025, Bank Pekao also helped issue a syndicated €300 million loan to a leading energy company, issued five-year green bonds for a leading telecoms company totaling 700 million zloty, and issued bonds worth 1 billion zloty for sustainable development for a large retail company.
QNB Bank
Best Bank for Blue Bonds (New for 2026)
In October 2024, QNB Bank issued Turkey’s first blue bond, in collaboration with the IFC as the sole investor, for $25 million and a five-year maturity.
The bond is financing nearly all water conservation activities, including wastewater management, boosting sustainable tourism, reducing marine pollution, and enabling sustainable fishing.
The bond was issued under QNB Group’s Sustainable Finance and Product Framework. Late last year, QNB Bank again cooperated with the IFC, alongside the EBRD, to complete a $100 million climate transition bond issue, the first of its kind, focused on financing decarbonization efforts in carbon-intensive sectors such as cement production and steel, which are generally excluded from green bonds because of their high emissions.
This climate transition bond is viewed as a strategic link to green and ESG finance.
