Keystone Bank Limited has become one of the founding signatories of the Principles for Responsible Banking, committing to strategically align its business with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
By signing the Principles for Responsible Banking, Keystone Bank joins a coalition of 130 banks worldwide including ING, representing over USD 47 trillion in assets, in committing to taking on a crucial role in helping to achieve a sustainable future.
Taking place at the start of the UN General Assembly, the official launch of the Principles for Responsible Banking marked the beginning of the most significant partnership to date between the global banking industry and the UN.
“The UN Principles for Responsible Banking are a guide for the global banking industry to respond to, drive and benefit from a sustainable development economy. The Principles create the accountability that can realize the responsibility and the ambition that can drive action,” said UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres at the launch event, attended by the 130 founding signatories and over 45 of their CEOS.
Also speaking, Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) explained that a banking industry that plans for the risks associated with climate change and other environmental challenges cannot only drive the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies, it can benefit from it.
“When the financial system shifts its capital away from resource-hungry, brown investments to those that back nature as solution, everybody wins in the long-term,” Anderson noted.
Commenting on the development, executive director, Keystone Bank Limited, Yemi Odusanya said Keystone Bank is convinced that only in an inclusive society founded on human dignity, equality and the sustainable use of natural resources can our clients, customers and businesses thrive.
