The Financial Foundation for Sustainability
Here in WNC the financial community is just begining to focus upon, if not quite fully embrace the business opportunities that the sustainability tsunami are bringing to the fore. As with most other aspects of living in the mountains, these local institutions tend to be more autonomous than in other parts of the state. In many ways that’s a good thing - but perhaps not when it comes to tapping into the parent organization’s sustainability goals and objectives - regardless of the famous logos on the door, and on your checks.
Read the following article and ask yourself how you are holding your personal financial partners accountable. How much do you know about the corporate social responsibility and sustainability commitment of the institution? Do you care? What can you do to find out?
The first step is to ask! The next step is to act.
The financial sector is the hotest, and most important partner of creating a truly sustainable economy. Notwithstanding the power of enlightened consumer demand, the foundation of financial sustainability and viability is critical.
Banks Embracing Green Challenge, Study Finds
Source: GreenBiz.com
GENEVA, Switzerland, July 3, 2007 — According to the latest Banking Industry report from research group Covalence, competition for eco-minded customers has helped improve how banks’ services affect the environment.
The study looked at the EthicalQuote Reputation Index for nine industries from June 2006 to June 2007 and found that the banking sector was ranked second highest in its overall reputation, following the food & beverage sector and just ahead of technology companies in score.
“Over last year the Banking Industry has witnessed a favorable evolution in the areas of Eco-Innovativeness of its products, Environmental Impact of Production and Social Sponsorship,” the report’s authors write.
Among the big news that gave the industry its boost were high-profile sustainability events like the private finance takeover of TXU, which aims to reduce the amount of coal-fired power plants used by the utility and increase investments in renewables. The report notes that Citigroup and HSBC were among the most positively ranked banks in the study.
Covalence found that both market-side demand and international standards were responsible for the green boom in banking. On the market side, there has been an increase in demand from consumers for socially responsible investment options, and the market for investments in renewable energy is also increasingly attractive to investors. The growth of microfinance, aided in part by Muhammad Yunus’s Nobel Peace Prize for his work at Grameen Bank, is also a contributing factor to the survey results.
On the standards side, the adoption of a series of guidelines at the United Nations helped stimulate a positive perception of the banking sector. The U.N.’s Principles for Responsible Investing, currently included over 200 groups that are seeking to adopt environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) in their practices, were launched last year, and the U.N. Environment Programme’s Financial Initiative and the Revised Equator Principles also garnered significant, positive press coverage.
Another notable development over the course of the year was the Clinton Climate Initiative, a $5 billion plan financed by the world’s major banks to retrofit and environmentally improve existing buildings around the world.
The report found that the top ten banks in terms of corporate reputation were, in order: HSBC, ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Barclays Bank, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland and BNP Paribas.