KBC and Encon extend strategic partnership after 750 sustainability projects

What started as a collaboration to better support KBC clients with their sustainability challenges has grown into 750 concrete projects for companies across sectors including industry, real estate, logistics and retail. This scale demonstrates that the approach works across a wide range of sectors and helps companies turn sustainability ambitions into concrete investments and implementation.

Encon combines strategic, business and technical expertise to identify, substantiate and implement sustainability and energy investments. KBC complements this with its financial expertise and financing solutions. Together, they help companies understand which investments are relevant and how they can be made technically, economically and financially feasible.

Sustainability as an economic lever

Over the past six years, both the scale of the collaboration and the context in which companies invest have changed significantly.

Energy, CO₂ reduction and sustainable buildings are now directly linked to companies’ economic performance and future resilience. Energy prices, security of supply, grid capacity, electrification and future regulation are increasingly influencing investment decisions, business continuity and competitiveness.

This is also at the heart of the collaboration between KBC and Encon: translating sustainability ambitions into tangible business value. Lower operating costs, manageable risks, greater energy security and future-proof assets make sustainable investments relevant from both an environmental and an economic perspective. This principle also forms the basis of Encon’s Profitable Sustainability approach.

Wim Eraly, Senior General Manager KBC Commercial Banking:

“Six years of practical experience show that this model works. As a bank, we want to go beyond simply financing an investment. We want to help our clients identify the right investments and make them feasible. By combining financial expertise with Encon’s strategic and technical expertise, we can support companies from their initial ambitions through to concrete implementation. The scale this collaboration has reached today confirms the value of this approach for us.”

750 projects demonstrate the impact in practice

The strength of the collaboration lies in turning ambition into implementation. By substantiating sustainability challenges from both a technical and economic perspective, KBC and Encon help companies make well-founded investment decisions and move towards actual implementation.

Robin Bruninx, CEO of Encon:

“Six years of collaboration and 750 projects demonstrate that sustainability and profitability can go hand in hand. For me, the real success lies in companies actually moving towards action and investment. When environmental and societal challenges are linked to efficiency and return, sustainability becomes an economic lever. KBC’s renewed commitment to this collaboration strengthens our ambition to help even more companies move from strategy to implementation in the years ahead.”

The next phase: from projects to transition

Implementation will become even more important in the years ahead. The energy and sustainability challenges companies face are becoming increasingly complex and are having a deeper impact on their operations.

The decisions companies make today regarding their sustainable transition have a direct impact on their future cost structure, investment capacity, business continuity and competitiveness. Energy, infrastructure, electrification and sustainability therefore increasingly require an integrated, multi-year approach.

Companies that structure this transition today can build a competitive advantage. Delaying action, on the other hand, can result in energy supply, infrastructure or available grid capacity becoming constraints on future growth.

At the same time, organisations do not always have the specialised expertise or internal capacity needed to structurally manage this transition. Encon has therefore expanded its project-based approach with strategic interim management in energy and sustainability, under the name Energy & Sustainability Transition Management (ESTM). Experienced experts support organisations from within, bridging the gap between strategy and concrete implementation.

The partnership between KBC and Encon is evolving accordingly. In addition to identifying and implementing individual opportunities, both organisations increasingly aim to support companies in managing a broader, long-term transition.

KBC and Encon continue their collaboration

By reaffirming their strategic partnership, KBC and Encon are building on six years of collaboration and 750 completed projects. Their ambition for the coming years is to help even more companies translate sustainability into investments that make their organisations stronger, more resilient and more competitive.

The experience built up over the past six years provides the foundation for further growth: supporting more companies in turning their sustainable transition into tangible economic and environmental value.