At 20:30 on 27 March, the large lit advertisement on the roof of IB Headquarters on Hudong Road, Fuzhou, Fujian, as well as all of the bank's offices and business departments in the building went black as the power was shut down. Meanwhile, over 500 operating institutions and over 20,000 employees of the Industrial Bank (IB) took part in Earth Hour all over the country. They supported energy conservation and emissions reduction and advocated a low-carbon lifestyle by the simple but direct means of turning the lights off.
Earth Hour is a public event that was first initiated by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2007 in Sydney. It calls on individuals, communities, businesses and governments to turn their lights off for one hour from 20:30 to 21:30 on the last Saturday of every March, so as to call on the people of the world to conserve energy, be aware of climate change and protect the environment that we rely on for our survival. In March 2009, more than 1 billion people in over 4000 cities in over 80 countries took part in the Earth Hour, making it the world's largest anti-climate change initiative. As the first Equator Bank in China, the Industrial Bank has always placed a focus on environmental protection during its development. It is committed to implementing the concept of sustainable finance in every field and every part of its business operations. This notion chimes with the low-carbon economic development mode that Earth Hour advocates. Therefore, the Industrial Bank has decided to take part in Earth Hour 2010, which it sees as being a way of performing its social responsibilities and calling on its employees and clients to be more aware and active in regard to climate issues and caring for the environment. It calls on people to support the sustainable development of society, economy and the environment by protecting the environment and leading low-carbon lifestyles.
Banks are special organizations that control the allocation of financial resources and have many stakeholders. In the opinion of the Industrial Bank, banks that participate in such activities should not limit themselves to their own participation, but should exert their social influence and numerous clients to call on more enterprises and individuals to join them. The Industrial Bank launched a campaign on March 22 aimed at employees and clients to publicize Earth Hour over its website, over videos in outlets and by means of text messages and e-mails. It called for people to turn off their lights and called on more businesses and individuals to pay attention to environmental issues, combat climate change and thereby protect our home.
In addition to IB, over 200 businesses including China PingAn and Baidu and dozens of cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu and Macau took part in the Earth Hour. The simple action of turning the lights off demonstrates the sense of social responsibilities of businesses. More importantly, this action demonstrates that these corporate citizens are dedicated to caring for the earth, protecting the environment, combating climate change and pursuing sustainable development.
Background:
IB's Path to Sustainable Development
The Industrial Bank has always paid a great deal of attention to the development of sustainable finance. It has actively explored ways of driving itself to perform social responsibilities in a diverse manner, advocated green credit, cultivated a culture of environmental and social risk control, and made efforts to establish a harmonious relationship between man, nature, environment and society.
IB was the pioneer of energy conservation and emissions reduction loans in China. Since beginning collaboration with the IFC in 2006, by the end of 2009, the bank had granted a total of RMB 16.583 billion in loans for energy-saving and emissions-reducing projects. The quality of these credit assets is sound, and the bank has fulfilled its commitment of granting RMB 10 billion in loans within three years (from 2008 to 2010) in advance. The projects supported by these energy-saving and emissions-reducing loans are able to save about 10.3974 million tons of coal equivalents, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 31.7804 million tons, reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 439,100 tons and utilize 472,500 tons of solid waste every year.
In October 2007, IB signed the Statement by Financial Institutions on the Environment and Sustainable Development to join in the UNEP FI. It has committed to complying with relative environmental laws, rules and regulations, establishing an environmental management system, integrating environmental factors into business decision making, supporting environmental protection and realizing sustainable development.
On October 31, 2008, IB announced its commitment to the Equator Principles, thereby becoming the first Equator Bank in China. This indicates that IB has taken the lead among domestic commercial banks in regard to introducing international advanced modes, strengthening environmental and social risk control, and promoting scientific and sustainable development. This event was also regarded as one of the achievements in the financial service industry by the State Council in the Fifth China-U.S Strategic Economic Dialogue which was held in December 2008. In December 2009, IB's first loan project governed by the Equator Principles was finally completed, indicating that IB had completed the transition from regulating internal environmental and social risk management to implementing specific projects.
At the beginning of 2010, IB launched the first low-carbon credit card in China. Relying on the Beijing Environment Exchange, card holders purchase a certain amount of carbon reduction according to their carbon emission every year so as to be carbon neutral. The card advocates low-carbon lifestyles and consumption concepts.
Owing to these efforts, the Industrial Bank has been nominated for three successive years in the Sustainable Banking Awards of the Financial Times and IFC, being the Runner-up in the Sustainable Deal of 2007 and the Regional Winner Asia of Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of 2009. This is a unique achievement. After winning the Green Bank Innovation Award 2007 granted by the Economic Observer Newspaper, in 2009 IB won the China Best Green Bank Award 2008, which was independently evaluated by nine non-government environmental protection organizations. This award is the first award about green banking and green finance in China. The independent evaluation by non-government environmental protection organizations demonstrates that the appraisal is impartial and widely representative. On February 2, 2010, the Industrial Bank won the China Baosteel Environmental Excellence Prize, which is the highest social award in the field of Chinese environmental protection. IB is the only financial institution to have been granted this award.
Moreover, the bank does not limit itself to its own efforts in sustainable finance. It approaches industry counterparts in China and aboard with an open mind, and has promoted its notions and experience in sustainable finance domestically and internationally by means of training courses, forums and meetings (such as for the CDB and ICBC). The Industrial Bank has also shared its experiences with emerging markets such as Vietnam. From August 13-15, 2009, a green credit delegation comprising six ministries/commissions including the National Bank of Vietnam, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Economic Commission of the National People's Congress of Vietnam, and some main commercial banks, visited the Industrial Bank to learn about the bank's implementation of the Equator Principles, green credit and energy efficiency financing. The Industrial Bank's concept of sustainable finance has spread beyond China, and is open to many new emerging markets.