Sustainable Banking

Sustainable banking is a new contract between the banking industry and society. It consists chiefly of two elements: green banking and sustainable finance.

Green banking refers to a bank changing its internal operations to lower or eliminate its environmental impact through initiatives like green IT and energy-efficient premises.

Sustainable finance is the provision of financial products that incentivize or mandate environmentally-friendly behavior. Sustainable finance tools include green bonds, sustainable mortgages and sustainability-linked loans.

We see five areas where banks can accelerate progress on the objectives of sustainable banking: developing a sustainable banking strategy, managing environmental, social, and governance related risk exposures, offering sustainable products, working towards a smart target operating model for sustainable banking, and embracing green IT.

Becoming more sustainable is a complex and multi-faceted endeavor that may be aided by engaging a sustainable-banking consultant.

Green banks seek environmental sustainability in all aspects of their operations, from operating models to product offerings, workforce policies, IT strategies and beyond. Embracing green banking can often deliver a triple punch of increasing stakeholder value while lowering environmental impact and operating costs.

Green banking products leverage new policies, processes and technologies to offer traditional banking value propositions like liquidity with greater environmental sustainability. They include green bonds, sustainable mortgages and sustainability-linked.