An African vision for sustainable finance

On September 22, 2019, the eve of the United Nations (UN) Climate Action Summit, the UN launched the Principles for Responsible Banking, with 130 banks collectively holding $47 trillion in assets, or one-third of the global banking sector, signed up. In these principles, the banks commit to strategically align their businesses with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and massively scale up their contribution to the achievement of both. It is gratifying to note the strong presence of African banks, including KCB, in the list of founding signatories to implement the principles.

Sustainable finance has gained traction, particularly after the global financial crisis in 2007-2008. The crisis was in part fueled by the short-termism of the global financial sector. The short-term drive for profits trumped more long-term societal good. Sustainable finance takes a long term view and integrates environmental, social and governance criteria in business and investment decisions for the benefit of customers and society at large.