Euroclear publishes first CSRD compliant sustainability report

As a global FMI, we have a role to play in facilitating and accelerating the development of a sustainable financial market. Our presence across the developed, emerging and frontier markets allows us to facilitate engagement across diversified market participants. 

On behalf of clients, we hold over 6,545 Green, Social, Sustainable and Sustainability-linked bonds (GSSS) in Euroclear Bank, with a value of 1.6 trillion. 

We have made accredited commitments to minimising our environmental footprint and reaching our net zero target by 2050. This commitment extends to our key suppliers, who represent around 70% of total emissions, and with whom we are working to ensure that our supply chain adheres to environmental best practices.

 In 2024 Euroclear’s total emissions were 89,616 tCO2eq, an increase of 13% on 2023 and 29% on the 2019 baseline, driven largely by an increase in Scope 3 emissions as a result of business expansion. 

We maintained a 66% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 market-based emissions compared to the 2019 baseline, sustaining our 55% reduction target by 2030. This is mainly due to the purchase of renewable or low carbon energy which represented 83% of energy sources in 2024. A 6% reduction in Scope 3 operational activities (Categories 3-7) has brought these emissions back to 2019 levels, primarily due to reduced business travel and employee commuting emissions.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Euroclear remains committed to its DEI ambitions. In 2024, the Board approved a multi-year DEI action strategy, which we will start implementing this year. In 2024, the percentage of under-represented gender at senior management level stood at 32% against a 40% target by end 2026. We know that we have more work to do to improve this KPI and to take into account aspects other than gender. Our new DEI strategy addresses these areas with clear action plans and KPIs.

Learning and development
Euroclear believes in investing in the talent and skills development of its employees, ensuing that we have the right profiles in place to carry out our business strategy. 

During 2024, we launched a new online learning platform, offering more tailored training and introduced the Euroclear Learning Week. Training hours have doubled since 2022 and training & development scores in the Employee Engagement survey stand at 7.6/10 compared to 7.4/10 in 2023.

Employee wellbeing
Employee wellbeing is a key focus of our people strategy and this year’s strong scores in the Employee Engagement survey reflect this, standing at 7.9/10 compared to 7.4/10 in 2023. In 2025, we will start to roll out our five-year wellbeing strategy across the group. We are also looking at how climate change might impact the wellbeing of all of us in the future.

In 2024, our Board approved the establishment of a new Euroclear Foundation. The Foundation will be endowed annually with 1% of our profits (excluding Russia-related earnings). During 2025, we are putting in place the strategy and governance to manage the Foundation to ensure that our contributions have the biggest impact where they are most needed, and are governed in the most effective way. We will be communicating more on the remit and focus of the Foundation shortly.

In 2024, 80% of key suppliers were screened by Ecovadis against a target of 75% and in the Euroclear SA/NV Board the percentage of under-represented gender stood at 36% against a target of 33%.

In 2024, we also embedded ESG considerations into our mergers and acquisitions processes and ensured that human rights (using independent indices) are taken into consideration when deciding to maintain or expand our geographical footprint.