A path forward to measurable impact - a recap from the ecolytiq Milan Roundtable

In February, we kicked off our signature sustainability roundtable series for the first time in Milan, co-hosted with Visa.

We brought together key leaders from 8 of the biggest banks in the Italian ecosystem to discuss the latest insights and trends on the role of sustainability in their customers’ banking experience – for both retail and small business customers.

Let’s dive into the highlights from the session.

The challenge:  

In 2024, global warming had already surpassed the 1.5C warming limit set during the Paris Agreement¹. This means we have already failed to stay within the climate change threshold.

The need to deliver on climate action is more pressing by the day, and over 86% of the global population agrees².

However, while awareness for climate action is high, many still struggle with how to get started. This is a critical gap to bridge as over 2/3 of emissions are linked to household level consumption³.

This presents a prime opportunity for banks, as they are in the position to educate their customers on the environmental impact of their purchases. At the same time, surveys have shown that 1 out of 3 customers would switch banks to one that offers a more sustainable value proposition⁴ .

By enabling this change, banks can create impact that’s good for both the planet and their own businesses.

In this roundtable hosted in Milan, we together explored this opportunity for the Italian market. The stakeholders present shared their past implementations, challenges and learnings about bringing sustainable banking solutions to market in Italy.  

The discussion:

Unlike our roundtables in other regions, a few of the Italian banks who participated had already taken the first steps in implementing a sustainable banking solution. Therefore, the discussion was much more focused on how to advance implementations, rather than how to get started.

Here were key themes that the participants were eager to explore further:

1. Ongoing iterations are key for realizing long-term impact

While some participants have already implemented the first iterations of a sustainable banking proposition, all agreed that they were just the first steps towards a long term vision.

Early implementations helped these banks test the basics such as initial customer feedback and technical scoping. However, quickly it became apparent that the type of sustainability partner they choose is key in ensuring that the sustainable banking proposition goes beyond just a “feel-good” initiative.  

During the discussion, it was clear that having frameworks and set ups in place to measure the impact of the solution were critical for long term success – on both environmental and business ROI perspectives. This is currently a big gap that exists in early implementations.

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2. High quality customer content matters

A climate engagement implementation needs to include not only transaction-based carbon footprint calculations, but also content to educate on what the calculations mean and what users can do to reduce their emissions.

However, participants in the roundtable agreed that simply having educational content is not enough.

It is important to work with the right partners to ensure the content provided is not only personalized and relevant, but also tangible enough for the end user to apply on a repeatable basis. The content should be proven to build towards long term behavioral change to more sustainable consumption patterns.

3. Banks must step up in supporting Small Business customers on sustainability

While there is high awareness among banks around the consumer interest in sustainability, there is also a prime opportunity to serve this demand for the small business banking segment.

Many regulations globally are urging private companies to report on the carbon emissions of their businesses, such as CSRD in Europe and SECR in the UK. These regulations currently directly affect large companies.

So, why should small businesses care about these regulations in the short term? Small businesses are already indirectly affected and will need to provide emissions information sooner than they may expect.

For example, if a small business has an enterprise company as a customer or as part of their supply chain, they will already be asked for detailed information on emissions and sustainability practices for the customer’s reporting and auditing protocols.

According to a 2024 survey in the UK, 66% of businesses surveyed worry they don’t have the knowledge to act on climate action⁵. This is a key insight to consider for banks in finding new ways to engage this customer segment.

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In conclusion, it was clear that the Italian market has already started to test into sustainable banking solutions and is committed to delivering this to their customers. These early experiences have given them a clear perspective to iterate and improve their implementations to set up for measurable impact – for both the environment and their business.

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Sources:

¹ Nature.com 2025

² Nature Climate Change 2024

³ UN Environment Programme 2020

⁴ Tink 2023

⁵ UK Net Zero Business Census 2024

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