Abstract
The present era of industrialization and globalization has added a lot of comfort and luxury to human life but has also lead to an alarming situation of huge environmental degradation incorporated with all the involved activities. Today, the entire sector in the world economy is facing huge challenge to deal with the environmental problems and their related impacts in their day to day businesses. Not only the business firms have realized the importance of the environment but more than that an immense awareness is seen among the consumers and general public for the same. Due to all these reasons the business organizations have started modifying their activities and strategies so as to ensure protection to our natural resources and environment. In this context the financial sector and especially the banks can play an important role in promoting environmental sustainability. Sustainability is one of the most important factors driving the strategy making process of the business fraternity. Though we have realized very late that any development needs to be sustainable and equitable but the positivity lies in the fact that currently there has been an increasing concern for sustainable development among all the sectors in the economy including the financial sector. In financial sector, the various services that have adopted green business are banks, stock brokerage companies, credit card companies and also the companies of consumer finance. The concern for environmental sustainability has given mass recognition to the concept of corporate social responsibility. The potential benefits of the concept has gained the interest of the regulatory authorities, society, NGOs, employees, customers as well as the international bodies to the issue. In this regard, this concern for environmental sustainability by the banks has given rise to concept of Green Banking. In an emerging economy like India, environmental management needs to be the key focus area of the business fraternity and especially the banking industry being the major intermediary. This would help the firms in the emerging economies utilize their limited resources in an optimum way without harming the natural environment and face the global challenge of sustainability in successful manner. In the present paper green banking and sustainability has been discussed in detail. The paper also highlights on the stages, initiatives, benefits and future of green banking in Indian context. Some case studies in Indian context are also being discussed here in order to understand the importance of green banking in the present times. The paper also discusses about the various organizations and laws and guidelines for environmental conservation and sustainability and Green Banking.
Highlights
Banks can play a crucial role in maintaining sustainability by becoming a promoter of sustainability
Sustainable development tends to shift the focus of the business fraternity from their traditional bottom line approach of profit to the approach of triple bottom line where the focus lies on three Ps i.e. People, Planet and Profit and the decision point is the point of intersection of the three considerations (Fig. 1)
Banks have realized the importance of triple bottom line in their day to day functioning and so its main motive of profit has shifted towards three Ps
Summary
Banks can play a crucial role in maintaining sustainability by becoming a promoter of sustainability. Sustainable development tends to shift the focus of the business fraternity from their traditional bottom line approach of profit to the approach of triple bottom line where the focus lies on three Ps i.e. People (society), Planet (environment) and Profit (economy) and the decision point is the point of intersection of the three considerations (Fig. 1). Banks have realized the importance of triple bottom line in their day to day functioning and so its main motive of profit has shifted towards three Ps. Banks have realized the importance of triple bottom line in their day to day functioning and so its main motive of profit has shifted towards three Ps This theme has worked as a drive towards ‘Green Banking’ concept
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