Green Finance and Green Banks: The Future of Sustainable Banking in India
VIEW EVENT DETAILSESG parameters, today, are increasingly playing an important role in investor behaviour and capital allocation. Along with the financial aspects of a company, investors are underscoring the vitality of a sustainable economy and are also looking into factors such as the company’s natural resource usage, its impact on operations and value chains, and how its business is affecting its customers, employees and the community in which it operates. After a long period of irregular fervour, green finance is increasingly looking up post-COVID-19, with some of the biggest investors lining up trillions of dollars to finance a shift away from fossil fuels. Financial risks are being equated with climate change and sustainability. And banks and financial institutions together form the backbone of the entire green investment ecosystem.
India’s efforts to protect this steady growth will bear larger implications on the country’s fight towards climate change mitigation. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), led efforts in this direction back in 2008, when it issued a circular to raise awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility, sustainable development and non-financing reports. Additionally, Business Responsibility Reporting (BRR), a requirement for the top 100 companies, introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), was another important step in this direction. Since 2016, the number of Indian companies complying with the BRR norms has increased from 500 to 1000.
However, even as the acceptance of the importance of ESG grows in the post pandemic era and sustainable financing is seen as a catalyst in driving sustainable growth, the financing system needs to contend with several challenges. There are transition risks which banks face, and though they support the need to shift to financing greener projects, they cannot simply stop financing brown assets that generate profits for them. Concerns around standardization in the ESG marketplace also need further clarification. In addition, there are challenges with regard to financing green bonds and maintaining its attractiveness to foreign investors. Going forward, how can international financial institutions help in developing a more supportive funding ecosystem for sustainable business in India? How can Indian banks ensure a steady flow of capital in the long run for sustainable projects? What are some of the best practices in international financial systems that Indian banks can learn from? How can policy planners and regulators support banks in extending credit to sustainable ventures?
Join us for a conversation on the future of sustainable financing in India and potential ways of scaling with Satya Tripathi, Secretary-General, Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet; Prof Nick Robins, Professor in Practice - Sustainable Finance, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science; and Rajat Verma, MD & Country Head - Commercial Banking, HSBC India. The discussion will be moderated by Kanika Chawla, Programme Manager, Sustainable Energy for All.
Satya S. Tripathi is Secretary-General of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet. A development economist, lawyer and changemaker with over 40 years of varied experience, Mr. Tripathi is the Chancellor of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences - the world's largest academic institution dedicated exclusively to indigenous people and cultures. He is also a Senior Distinguished Fellow on Innovative Finance at the World Agroforestry Centre. He has served with the UN for more than two decades in key positions across the planet and was most recently the UN Assistant Secretary-General, Head of New York Office at the UN Environment and Secretary of the UN Environment Management Group.
Nick Robins joined the Grantham Research Institute in February 2018 as Professor in Practice for Sustainable Finance where he leads the sustainable finance research theme. He is author of The Road to Net Zero Finance for the UK’s Climate Change Committee and co-founder of Financing the Just Transition Alliance. He leads the finance platform for the Place-based Climate Action Network, and is co-chair of the International Network for Sustainable Finance Policy Insights, Research and Exchange (INSPIRE).
Rajat Verma is the Managing Director and Head of Commercial Banking for The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in India which covers a wide spectrum of businesses ranging from large international corporate clients, mid-corporates and small businesses. Prior to this role, he was MD and Head, Corporate Banking for the Bank in India and has also served stints across different segments across the bank.
As the UN Energy Programme Manager, Kanika Chawla works with the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative and CEO of SEforALL, and co-Chair of UN-Energy, to advance the twin objectives of energy access and energy transition at scale, especially in the context of the SDG Decade of Action. Kanika has over ten years of experience in clean energy and energy transition policy and markets. Prior to SEforAll, Kanika worked at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) in New Delhi, where she founded and ran the CEEW Centre for Energy Finance and the Renewable Energy programmes.
This programme is convened in partnership with:
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