Barclays has announced it is to start screening transactions for climate change risks.

The bank has expanded its agreement with environmental analytics firm, Groundsure, to screen commercial transactions in the UK for climate change and environmental risks.

Groundsure has been working with Barclays since 2006 to provide the bank with a “definitive opinion” on lending security in relation to flooding and contaminated land.

The firm’s new, extended agreement will see the introduction of the new Siteguard Climate report, which includes a four-tier risk assessment summary with insight on environmental liability, loan security risks and potential property value impacts. It also provides an assessment on the current physical climate risk from flooding as well as projections over the medium-term.

“Ensuring we can walk into high value commercial lending with eyes fully open about legacy environment and forward physical climate risks is a vital part of our governance and credit risk approach,” said VP environment and climate risk at Barclays, Ania Musial.

“Our long and successful relationship with Groundsure has ensured that many thousands of transactions have been effectively screened with their analytics and data intelligence. Now, we can take a longer view ahead to account for the potential impact that the climate will play on these lending decisions with greater confidence.”

Groundsure CEO, Dan Montagnani, added: “We are extending our already long and trusted relationship with Barclays to help them manage their current and forward exposure to environmental risks – especially in the context of greater compliance and due diligence requirements.

“Forward-thinking major banks are looking at how they are going to respond to the Bank of England expectations on embedding approaches to climate related financial risk. We will be helping Barclays meet their compliance obligations – for both environmental and broader climate impacts – ensuring they are well-positioned to manage this, at scale, for their commercial portfolio.”

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