The 2024 Banking on Climate Chaos report showed that Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) provided US$ 61.033 Billion in financing to the fossil fuel industry between 2016 and 2023. In 2023 only, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) provided US$ 3.967 Billion for oil, gas and coal companies expanding fossil fuels. Find further details on Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) fossil fuel portfolio and how it compares to other large banks globally on Fossil Banks No Thanks and in the Banking on Climate Chaos report.

Partner organisation Reclaim Finance tracks the coal, oil and gas policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool (CPT) and the Oil and Gas Policy Tracker (OGPT). BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of BBVA's fossil fuel policy below.

BankTrack assessed BBVA in its 2024 Global Human Rights Benchmark, where it achieved 7.5 points out of 15 and was ranked as a “moderate achiever”.

The bank scored 0.5 out of 3 points on the new “specific rights indicators”, which assess how banks address human rights defenders, Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent and environmental rights in their policies and practices.

In addition, BBVA scored 0.2 out of 3 on how it responds to alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, which were raised by civil society organisations. More information is detailed in the “Accountability” section of this profile.

The table below shows BankTrack's assessment of how BBVA has implemented the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Please click on 'expand all details' and 'explanation' for further information on the methodology.

Our policy assessments are always a work in progress. We very much welcome any feedback, especially from banks included in the assessments. Please get in touch at humanrights@banktrack.org.

BankTrack assessed BBVA in its 2024 Human Rights Benchmark Latin America, part of the series of  BankTrack's Regional Benchmarks, where it achieved 7 points out of 14 and was ranked as a "moderate achiever".

BBVA’s policies for forest-risk sectors (beef, soy, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber and timber) have been assessed by the Forests & Finance coalition, achieving an overall score of 5.6 out of 10 and ranking it as a front runner. BBVA achieved a score of 3 out of 10 specifically for its policies related to the beef sector and 6.1 out of 10 for its policies related to the palm oil sector. Between 2016 and 2022, BBVA provided USD 678 million in credit to companies operating in these forest-risk sectors.

BankTrack has also assessed BBVA’s policies related to the wood biomass sector and found that biomass is not mentioned in its policies and no safeguards or exclusions are in place for wood biomass. For more information, see the links below.

BBVA is a member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and has therefore committed to reduce its financed emissions to net zero by 2050; within 18 months of joining the alliance set interim targets for 2030 (or sooner) for high emission priority sectors, and within 36 months set further sector targets; set new intermediary targets every 5 years from 2030 onwards; annually publish data on emissions and progress against a transition strategy including climate-related sectoral policies; and take a robust approach to the role of offsets in transition plans. BankTrack track's implementation of these commitments in the NZBA compliance tracker.

As part of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), BBVA is required to set interim targets for 2030 for high emission priority sectors. For BBVA, this includes its lending to the steel sector. You can see BBVA’s iron and steel decarbonisation targets, and its progress towards meeting them in our NZBA steel targets compliance tracker:

Reclaim Finance also tracks the metallurgical coal policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool. BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of BBVA metallurgical coal policy below.