"Fossil fuel protest by Greenpeace," 3 May 2018

Today, at the occasion of KBC’s annual General Meeting of shareholders, Greenpeace protested against KBC’s policy regarding fossil fuels investments in the Czech Republic. The facts of the matter are that KBC/CSOB has substantially reduced its coal financing from 252 million euros at the end of 2016 to 86 million euros at the end of 2017... Moreover, KBC recently decided to amend its KBC Energy Credit Policy.

CSOB CZ will exit the coal sector and the current exposure on coal-based electricity production will be reduced to zero ultimately in 2023. This means that as of June 2018 :

• No financing of new coal fired electricity power plants and no new investments in existing coal fired electricity power plants
• No financing of new coal mines and no financing of existing ones
• There is 1 exception : until 2035,  - and with decreasing intermediary maximum exposure  - existing coal-fired district heating plants, which supply heat to 40% of Czech population, can still be financed to assist further ecological upgrades of these existing plants. KBC/CSOB wishes to play its role as a responsible company within the Czech economy and society.