The W.W.F. has released the guide titled Environmental, Social and Governance (E.S.G.) Integration for Banks: A Guide to Starting Implementation, which shows how financial institutions, acting as lenders, financial advisors, and capital raising agents can adopt sustainable practices.
The Word Wide Fund for Nature has released a new guide which will help banks lead the way towards sustainable solutions.
The W.W.F. has released the guide titled Environmental, Social and Governance (E.S.G.) Integration for Banks: A Guide to Starting Implementation, which shows how financial institutions, acting as lenders, financial advisors, and capital raising agents can adopt sustainable practices.
The guide provides banks with a toolkit to develop E.S.G. strategy and an operational framework to integrate E.S.G. issues into their practices.
“This is the first guide that maps out ‘how to’ steps for financial institutions in the earlier stages of their E.S.G. journey. It shows them how to manage their risk exposure to unsustainable business practices and lead the trend toward green business,” said W.W.F. Asian Finance and Commodities specialist Jeanne Stampe.
Credit risks brought on by severe weather patterns that are affecting infrastructure or agricultural production, water stress impacting production across sectors, or regulations that affect the value of carbon assets or carbon-related infrastructure are the factors that spurred W.W.F. to release such a guide for banks.
“The call to address environmental concerns has grown increasingly louder over time. Businesses, whether upstream or downstream, need to work together to do what is right and banks can play a significant role in promoting sustainability,” said Samuel Tsien, Chairman of the Association of Banks in Singapore.
“While change will not happen overnight, the W.W.F. guide can serve as a roadmap to provide insights on how E.S.G. issues can be integrated into business processes to achieve this purpose,” added Mr. Tsien.
“Credit Suisse is proud to sponsor this guide. It provides Asian banks with the background, knowledge and tools to develop a strategy and action plan to embed consideration of key E.S.G. issues into their core business,” said Ben Ridley, Asia Pacific Head of Sustainability Affairs at Credit Suisse. – EcoSeed Staff