Yes Bank is now among the founding signatories of the Principles for Responsible Banking, which is jointly developed by the UN Environment Finance Initiative-UNEP FI and some 29 banks across the world, including Yes Bank. There are now 130 signatories. The Principles were officially launched at the UN General Assembly, ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. The ‘Founding Signatories’ collectively hold $47 trillion in assets, representing one third of the global banking sector. The Principles provide the first global framework that guides the integration of sustainability across all business areas of a bank. By signing the Principles, the banks commit to align their business strategy with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals. Ravneet Gill, MD and CEO of the bank, said the launch of the Principles is a key step in ushering in a 21st century global financial system that is geared towards sustainable growth and development. Yes Bank has always endeavoured to mainstream its ethos of Responsible Banking by driving to market a number of industry-first innovations in sustainable finance, he added. In a related development, Yes Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Rabobank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Rockefeller Asset Management committed to disclose physical risks and opportunities from direct impacts of climate change to their portfolios, by 2021.
