Achieving Sustainability through Green Banking
Overview
The devastating effect of recent storms, floods and other natural calamities forces us to think seriously about global warming. Governments, corporations and individuals all have their own role to play in combating the demon called Global warming that we have conjured out of our own activities. There are a lot of discussions about who can really contribute to the emancipation of the environment and everyone seems to shrug off the responsibility. This article discusses the intermediary role between economic progress and environmental safeguarding being played by the BFSI sector in tackling global warming. Green Banking is a very broad term that encompasses all the practices and guidelines that renders banks sustainable with respect to the economic, environment and social paradigms. Banks can go green to achieve sustainability in three ways:
1. Greening their products, services, strategies and processes
2. Greening their infrastructure
3. Sustainable investment and lending activities
This article will touch upon the importance and relevance of Green banking, aspects of green banking, international initiatives in this direction, Green Banking in India and the future scope of this concept.
Importance and Relevance of Green banking
Until the last decade, environmental and sustainability concerns were not considered to be caused by banks. This was because showing concern for the environmentally degrading activities of their
All forms of personal transportation account for “30 % of all U.S Global warming.” The oil will soon be “harder to extract”, which will end up creating more and more dirty emissions as well as harm the economy. Creating “Fuel efficient vehicles, Electric cars, and cleaner fuels” will help contribute to a solution for global warming problems but not permanently (UoCS Web). Big business have given an “up close” view of The damage caused through business practice. Because of this, big business have found time to adopt “environmental safeguards” to cover up environmental damage through “national parks." Siding with big business, “Some of the most powerful forces,” is one of the best ways of solving environmental problems (Diamond 16). Big business has large amounts of money that could be invested in new forms of cars that could be completely electric or have clean
Sustainability from a strategic business perspective is the potential for the long-term well-being of the natural environment, including all biological entities, as mutually beneficial interactions among nature and individuals, organizations, and business strategies. (O.C Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2015). Business sustainably is often defined as managing the triple bottom line – a process by which companies manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. These three impacts are sometimes referred to as profits, people and planet. (Business sustainability definition from financial times lexicon, no date). This essay will discuss the idea of sustainability being an important element within a businesses and its core strategies and the importance of it within different businesses. Secondly, this study will look at how different stakeholders are affected and influenced by sustainability as this could be seen as a catalyst to improving the environment as a whole and. Then this study will look at how businesses not focusing
As we have seen an increase in awareness around sustainability and climate change, with the help of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth documentary in 2006, we see organizations moving towards mitigating the effects of climate change in various ways (Al Gore, n.d). As this corporate social responsibility has become more prevalent, organizations are now pushing their green agenda by publishing sustainability reports, doing mass marketing and implementing sustainable business practices to portray the image that they too are working towards protecting the earth’s natural environment all the while focusing on their underlying goal of selling their products and
Melting glaciers, depleting water resources and decreasing air quality needs immediate attention. Everyone needs air and water to survive. Business started practicing sustainable accounting in mid-70. This practice discloses non-financial and financial information related to the business activities that has direct impact on society and its environment (air, water, people etc.). Companies use triple bottom line method to calculate the impact of business activities on society and based on these calculation companies makes policies which make its operation more ecologically and socially
Environmental change is a logical certainty, and progressively a lived human concern. However, it is not yet what everybody should call social-global problem in one voice. It's not an essential almost we shape our social practices, nor a sufficiently huge social standard to go about as an imperative on our conduct. Around the planet there is developing energy to characterize environmental change as a security issue and thus as a motivation topping issue that merits noteworthy consideration and assets. Calls for movement are developing - yet at the same time outlined activities to address the issue has a cost or weight that will hamper business and go about as a drag on the economy.
Sustainability has achieved a more ecological tone in the past few decades in terms of a business model, but it originally derives from the concept that a business is successful due to the interconnected areas of economics, culture and ecology. Sustainability is now becoming a somewhat fad and thus it is understandable that it could be misconstrued by some as a form of “greenwashing”. Greenwashing is the idea that a company markets their “green” or environmentally friendly changes in policy and values, despite no actual concrete changes in these areas, for example some argue that Fiji Water greenwasher in terms of their marketing as an environmentally friendly water company despite their little effort to actually go carbon-neutral. Many companies are seeing the
To a regular person, the global concern about ‘going green’ might appear as a result of speculation from nervous politicians and alarmed citizens. But the reality is totally different. In recent years, businesses have gained much knowledge about the impact of their activities on environment and in turns their customers. Businesses are successively venturing to earn greater revenues. In this process, they are trying out every best possibility to entice their contributors- from customers to investors. Regardless to say, stakeholders these days are more socially responsible than ever. So to keep up to their expectations, businesses are also trying to expand or limit their activities to save the environment- from doing relentless research on lowering waste to lean management and even trying out various eco-friendly activities. Despite of all these, the ultimate question remains unanswered if it is financially beneficial to adapt those initiatives that is going to serve the
McManus, B. (2009). Vital to Business Survival: Assessing the Impact of Environmental Pressures. GreenBiz, 1-4.
As TD continues to expand, the environment is challenging us to reduce the environmental impact despite the rapid business expansion. The important areas of focus in managing the environmental footprint of TD business operations are: "Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improving energy efficiency, reducing paper use, reducing waste volumes and water use, greening our supply chain." The majority of financing is based on personal and residential lending. Wholesale banking and commercial lending account for the remainder of the financing. “Approximately 5% of our total financing involves clients operating in environmentally and socially sensitive industries such as mining, oil and gas extraction, power & utilities, forestry, automotive, chemicals and
Since the global financial crisis hit the world in 2007, more and more people, families and households are experiencing tough times financially and more and more ways are being found to live, thrive and survive in difficult times. Combined with a drive to live a greener and more sustainable existence, more people are combining frugal lifestyles with greener, more responsible consumerism.
Climate change, Demographic changes, food security and other emerging global trends present both risks and opportunities for investors to explore new markets and sectors. Trillions of dollars will be required, from both public and private sectors, to finance sustainable development. According to a report from the Global Sustainable Investing Alliance, total assets allocated in sustainable investing, an investment approach that considers environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in portfolio selection and management, have expanded dramatically in recent years, rising from $13.3 trillion in 2012 to reach a total of $21.4 trillion at the start of 2014. This is a remarkable accomplishment, however, it scratches only the surface, when compared to $294 trillion of global financial assets.
The easiest way that we can become more sustainable is through aligning the help of a third-party certifier such as The Rainforest Alliance (TRA) with our own business. We can make small changes, and help the environment as well as increasing our profits. Great Britian: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit, 2009 suggests that TRA is known for the work that they do in sustaining agriculture, forestry, and tourism practices. In addition to playing a large part in sustainability TRA also focuses on education of such problems and addresses climate change and adopt the slogan ‘Shop the frog.”
Introduction: An Ethical Bank, also known as a social, alternative, civic or sustainable bank is a bank concerned with the special and environmental impact of its investments and loans. The ethical banking movement includes: ethical investments, impact investment, socially responsible investment, corporate social responsibility and is also related to such movements as the fair trade movement, ethical consumerism
A “green” business strives to have a positive impact on the environment and community. It develops and practices business strategies that go beyond
Like the Military of Defense decision implemented within the United Kingdom, companies choose to green their management decisions to appeal to consumers. The MoD’s decision to use environmentally-friendly