Sustainability has always been a core part of Iberpay's offering as manager of Spain's payments system. The company’s holistic approach to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues underpins a range of initiatives designed to spread positive impacts across the financial ecosystem. These measures help participants achieve a sustainable and efficient digital transformation that is also ethically responsible.

The company brings the same commitment to its own governance. Sustainability is part of Iberpay's decision-making structure at the highest level. The Board of Directors itself is responsible for setting targets, principles and commitments for sustainable development and ensuring they are fully integrated into corporate strategy. Implementation is then monitored and overseen by the Sustainability Committee, comprising directors and executives, which makes sure ESG criteria are effectively embedded in all key decisions.

Anticipating future challenges: the Sustainability Master Plan 2025-2028

Iberpay is not obliged to follow the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Nevertheless, it has deliberately opted to comply with the Directive’s standards ahead of time. This is, of course, in line with Iberpay's values but also, crucially, means that shareholders and participants — many of whom are bound by the Directive — can easily get the data they need to meet their own reporting obligations. Again, Iberpay is acting to support and facilitate sustainability across the financial system.

A lever for change

Iberpay has shown that sustainability is more than an ethical imperative. It can also be a structural lever for the modernisation and strengthening of the payment system. Iberpay manages the critical infrastructure that forms the backbone of the Spanish payment system and links it to the 40 countries of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Last year, it handled over 3,185 million transactions involving €2.8 trillion. Its position at the nerve centre of the payment network means its actions have a multiplier effect that can amplify not only the process of digital transformation, but also the operational efficiency and resilience of the financial system.

The Sustainability Master Plan is the concrete embodiment of this commitment. It turns strategy into action, and vision into results. The plan aligns Iberpay’s operations with the challenges the world faces today — climate change mitigation and adaptation, diversity, equity and inclusion, and the need for an inclusive digital transformation — and positions the company as a trailblazer for its sector. With this plan, Iberpay steps beyond its role as a cornerstone of the financial system, to pioneer a new understanding of how payments are made, based on digitisation, instant transfer, anti-fraud and security measures, efficiency, operational resilience and accessibility, and which builds in the principles of sustainable development that this and future generations will demand.

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