FirstBank Nigeria screened 505 corporate transactions valued at over N10tn for Environmental, Social, and Governance risks in 2025, more than double the number assessed by the lender in the previous year.

The bank disclosed this at the inaugural Annual Sustainability Conference of the Sustainability Professionals Institute of Nigeria, held in Lagos. The conference, sponsored by FirstBank, had the theme, “The Adaptive Enterprise: Sustainability Strategies for Challenging Times.”

The lender said the increase reflected the growing integration of sustainability considerations into its credit and risk management processes.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank Group, Olusegun Alebiosu, represented by the bank’s Executive Director, Risk Management, Adebiyi Olagbami, said challenging economic conditions had strengthened rather than weakened the case for sustainability.

He noted that currency volatility, inflation, tightening capital conditions and a declining global appetite for ESG investments had increased pressure on businesses and financial institutions.

“Challenging times are not a reason to retreat from sustainability commitments; they are the reason those commitments were made in the first place,” he said.

According to him, a credible sustainability strategy must protect institutions from emerging environmental and social risks, create new sources of revenue and preserve the trust of customers, regulators and communities.

He said FirstBank’s experience showed that resilience and sustainability could be achieved alongside strong financial performance, noting that the bank recorded gross earnings of N3.4tn in 2025.

Alebiosu disclosed that FirstBank had finalised its Green Product Credit Policy, aligning its lending standards with its Climate Policy, Environmental and Social Management System, International Finance Corporation Performance Standards, and IFRS S1 and S2.

He said the policy incorporated sector-specific ESG screening for oil and gas, power, construction and agriculture, ensuring that environmental and social considerations formed part of the credit underwriting process rather than being assessed after financing decisions had been made.

The bank, he added, “screened 505 corporate transactions worth more than N10tn for ESG risks in 2025, compared with 237 transactions valued at over N3tn in 2024.”

Beyond risk management, Alebiosu said FirstBank was expanding its climate finance offerings through Alternative Energy Finance for individuals, solar financing for small and medium-sized enterprises, and a green energy addendum to its vehicle finance offering.

He described the financing gap as one of the major barriers to Nigeria’s clean energy transition, arguing that banks had a critical role to play in mobilising capital towards cleaner energy and mobility solutions.

On transparency, he said FirstBank would publish its first Sustainability Report prepared in line with IFRS S1 and S2, while continuing its commitments to the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, UN Global Compact, and Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles.

Also speaking, Olagbami said sustainable finance should be viewed as a catalyst for resilient economic growth rather than simply a compliance requirement.

He said ESG risks were increasingly becoming core credit risks because a borrower’s exposure to climate transition, environmental liabilities and social risks could affect its ability to repay a facility over its tenor.

He said FirstBank had embedded ESG risk assessment into its credit process, with customers across construction, oil and gas, agriculture, manufacturing and services assessed against ESG and climate risks.

Olagbami explained that customers were categorised according to ESG risk levels, with Environmental and Social Action Plans developed where gaps were identified. He added that the bank was also measuring financed emissions to identify areas of portfolio vulnerability as Nigeria moved towards a lower-carbon economy.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Kolawole Owodunni, who represented the Authority’s MD/CEO, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, said sustainability must move from the periphery to the core of organisational decision-making.

Earlier, the President of SPIN, Kenneth Amaeshi, called for an indigenous approach to sustainability, warning against simply importing frameworks without adapting them to local realities.