Sustainable Finance: Moving the Banking Sector from Promises to Performance

(BankTrack, Utrecht, 26 January 2006) As the OECD reviews its environmental standards for ECAs in 2006, a new study released by BankTrack and WWF at the World Economic Forum in Davos highlights many of the best practices that NGOs believe should be considered by project finance entities. The study shows that the international banking sector is doing a poor job in adopting financing policies that advance sustainability. Within the banking sector, addressing environmental and social issues is now considered critical to the proper management of transaction, portfolio and reputational risks. The question is no longer whether commercial banks should take these aspects of the activities they support into account, but how they should do it ­ What standards to apply? How to implement them and how to assure compliance?