The chairman of Industrial Bank, China's ninth biggest bank by Tier 1 capital has called on the global banking industry to better embrace corporate and social responsibility (CSR). Writing exclusively for The Banker’s annual book, How to run a bank, Jianping Gao, chairman of Industrial Bank, said commercial banks must work on building themselves up as more sustainable institutions.
“The banking sector, with its power to distribute financial resources should meet higher standards of CSR and accomplish more in this field,” he said.
Banks across the world are coming under increasing pressure from governments to invest more in so-called sustainable banking. With reputations in tatters after the financial crisis, and many banks in developed markets now controlled by the state, this pressure will only mount.
Mr Gao said that by November 2009 his bank had granted 187 loans for energy conservation and emission reduction in mainland China totalling RMb13.74bn ($2bn). He claimed this could reduce coal consumption by more than 8.5 million tonnes per year and carbon dioxide emissions by more than 26.9 million tonnes per year.
“The bank [seeks to] deepen its understanding of the linkages between CSR and its own sustainable development and explore multiple approaches to fulfil its social responsibility and cultivate harmonious relationships among people, nature and society,” he said.
China is one of the world’s biggest polluters. However, it recently unveiled its first firm target for limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Beijing said late last year it would aim to reduce its "carbon intensity" by 40-45% by the year 2020, compared with 2005 levels.
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