Social and Solidarity Economy

Ethical finance continues to grow and show its transformative capacity. The Ethical Finance Barometer, published by the Ethical Finance Observatory and FETS- Ethical and Solidarity Finance, registers a new record high of €1.870 billion in loans to social projects.

The new Ethical Finance Barometer shows how the ethical finance sector is growing. Once again, what stands out most is the amount of loans issued, breaking the €1.8 billion barrier to reach 1.87 billion. That represents an 8.37% increase on the previous year and is 20 times higher than the total for 2007, the first year for which figures are available. As regards the sectoral spread, the environmental sector comes top with 36.76% of the total financed, followed by the social sector with 24.56% and then the cultural sector with 19.12%.

Moreover, the savings managed by ethical finance entities also grew by 7.55%, reaching €2.640 billion. On the other hand, the figure for share capital, €188 million, and the number of users, nearly €190,000, remain the same.

The Barometer also offers an analysis of the insurance sector of EthSI-certified companies and products, which manages €318.598 billion in investments throughout Spain. In 2021, these products and entities managed a total of 4.7 million policies covering all kinds of insurance needs such as vehicle, health, claims, collective agreements and civil liability. The volume of premiums managed by ethical insurance companies exceeds €1.588 billion, which accounts for 2.5% of the entire Spanish insurance sector. The figure for investments is more than €3.083 billion invested according to ethical and responsible investment criteria.

About the Barometer

The Ethical Finance Barometer 2021 is an annual report that has been compiling the main data on the sector in Spain since 2007. The 2021 edition compiles the figures of 22 banking institutions and 11 insurance companies that meet ethical criteria with regard to their operations, the exclusion of investments contrary to human and environmental rights and the commitment to the social impact of the projects financed.

The Barometer includes the supplement Històries darrere les dades (Stories behind the data), which shows different projects that were supported by ethical finance in 2021. They range from the award-winning film Alcarràs to sanitation initiatives in India, an environmental education farm in Navarre and a theatre in Seville. The theatre company La Virgueria will use the loan to finance its next project. “Researching the war business while preparing the show “El pes del plom” we realised that we could not continue to be linked to a bank that is enriching itself by investing in arms and changed over to ethical finance, both as a cooperative and in our personal accounts”.

Barcelona City Council promotes ethical finance

Within the framework of the 2021-2023 Plan to Boost the SSE and the city #ESSBCN2030 Strategy, Barcelona City Council promotes ethical finance in various ways. One of the measures with the most impact is the Municipal Fund for Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) Projects’ Access to Funding. This credit fund stems from collaboration agreements with Coop57 and Fiare Banca Ètica to facilitate the financing of new SSE projects and companies with an impact on the city.

The available credit lines are intended to finance new projects and new lines of activity but they are also available to all organisations in the Barcelona SSE with specific funding or credit needs. You can find out more about how the credit fund works by listening to the podcast Les Veus de l’ESS sobre Finances Ètiques (SSE Voices on Ethical Finance).

Initiatives and organisations in the SSE sector interested in this funding mechanism can contact:

Coop57

coop57@coop57.coop

93 268 29 49

C/ Premià, 15, Baixos

08014, Barcelona

Fiare Banca Etica

933 689 982 (with prior appointment)

C/Còrsega, 495

08025 Barcelona