Triodos Bank is a leading expert in sustainable banking. Our mission is to make money work for positive change. We are more than a bank. We are a community. Get to know us and join the movement for change.

A clear compass and solid foundation for values-based banking

Freedom
The state of being able to act, speak, or think, and develop, taking into account equality and responsibility for other people and the earth.

Equity
Recognises that treating everyone equally has shortcomings when the playing field is not level. An equitable approach is about bridging the opportunity gap by giving people what they need in order to make things fair. By giving more to those who need it, proportionately to their own circumstances, we can ensure that everyone has the same opportunities.

Responsibility
Taking ownership of decisions, being aware of the consequences of actions or behaviour on others and face the consequences if their actions result in harm, inconvenience or negative outcomes to themselves or others.

Responsibility is an important trait that demonstrates reliability, dependability, and ethical behaviour and is essential for building trust in personal, professional, and social relationships.

Profit is not an objective in itself

In essence, Triodos Bank aims to maximise sustainability, embracing the need to be profitable but only as a means to a sustainable end. Profit can be seen as a yardstick. It shows an organisation is working efficiently, but says nothing about the content and the impact of what it is doing.

Triodos Bank uses a three-tier approach to making lending and investment decisions, which starts with evaluating the content of an activity and focuses on its sustainable impact. The first thing to consider is ‘How can this contribute to positive social, environmental and cultural change?’ Next comes the important question ‘Is it viable?' And thirdly: 'is the idea rooted in society – is it supported by those around the entrepreneur?' If the professional judgement is correct, financial and social profit should follow almost automatically.

Reappraise the role of money and its place in the economy

Our approach to lending and investment decisions represents a radical departure from conventional financial institutions. Using our three-tier approach means re-appraising the role of our money and its place in the economy. And it goes further, because thinking like this means looking inwardly to assess what’s truly valuable. There are a number of positive trends emerging in this respect. There is growing awareness that we only have one earth to live on, and we need to work together to secure our long term future on it.

Impact, Risk and Return – an Integrated Business

Traditionally banks have focused on risk and return, primarily to avoid negative outcomes, and to enable investors to understand the performance of a particular institution. Risk and return tend to be seen in a short term context, particularly when an institution sees its main goal as maximising returns to shareholders. It’s a perspective that sees a company through the narrow lens of its financial performance only; and it neglects a company’s wider relationship with – and impact on – society and the environment.

So Triodos Bank uses impact, risk and return to understand its overall development and place in the world around it. This necessarily means it has a positive, long-term perspective. Because if you are focused on delivering sustainable social, environmental and cultural impact as well as risk and return – as Triodos Bank is – your horizon is inherently longer-term and has a positive, holistic outlook.

Impact

Triodos Bank wants to deliver sustainable impact. When we talk about ‘Impact’ we are concerned with what our actions, in particular financing and facilitating investments, mean concretely to people. Impact means delivering positive outcomes, not only on a transactional level but also on a social, ecological system level.

Risk

Because our starting point is to deliver greater impact over the long term, it is essential that we are financially resilient and that, as an outcome, we have consistently been focussing on a high quality loan portfolio. Triodos Bank’s modest risk appetite is an important building block towards this resilience.

Return

Triodos Bank has been able to deliver stable, fair returns over a sustained period. For Triodos Bank, financial performance is important because being a resilient financial institution is essential to delivering lasting, sustainable change.

To deliver Impact, Risk and Return we have a unique sustainable approach:

We have a simple business model: We only lend money entrusted to us by savers and investors, to entrepreneurs we know well. We only work in the real economy and we don’t invest in complex financial instruments.
We don’t have a Corporate Sustainability Department. Our aim is to lend our customers' money for 100% to people and organisations working to make the world a better place. We actively seek out and promote sustainable, entrepreneurial businesses driven by values and ideas. Our lending criteria reflect this positive approach - rather than just detailing which businesses we exclude because they do harm.
We believe that sustainable banking depends on trust and transparency, so we publish details of the organisations we lend to; which means our savers and investors can see how we’re using their money. Explore Know where your money goes.

Our approach to banking is different. We work with organisations that contribute to positive social, environmental and cultural change.

Who won't we lend to?

We won't lend to any organisation that puts profit before people and planet. More specifically, the absolute criteria we apply in making lending decisions come under two main headings:

Non-sustainable products and services

This includes all businesses involved in producing or trading in weapons, tobacco, pornography, fur or environmentally hazardous substances. It also covers the gambling industry.

Non-sustainable working processes

This covers everything from animal testing and inhumane farming methods, through corruption and support for dictatorial regimes, to breaches of fundamental labour rights.

In addition to our positive approach to lending, Triodos Bank maintains a list of exclusions to clarify which activities it will not finance nor invest in.

Triodos Bank Minimum standards December 2022247 KB, PDF

Triodos Bank has a community of over 744,000 customers and has 22.5 billion euro in total assets under management. We have banking activities in the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Spain, and Germany and investment management activities globally.

Explore our integrated annual reports

Triodos Bank believes it's crucial that its mission and identity is protected. How we direct, administer and control our work says a lot about our identity. To safeguard our special character and mission we do not have shareholders but Depository Receipt Holders.

Find out more about Triodos Bank near you

Money can change the world

Our mission and vision

Our core values

How we make money work for positive change

Profit is not an objective in itself

Reappraise the role of money and its place in the economy

Impact, Risk and Return – an Integrated Business

Impact

Risk

Return

To deliver Impact, Risk and Return we have a unique sustainable approach:

You can do more with your money

What we finance

Finance change. Change finance

Our impact in numbers

Triodos Bank is an independent bank

A vision on sustainability since 1968

We create positive change through lending, investing and giving

Find out more about Triodos Bank near you

Main

Our impact

Banking

Investing and giving