An awareness session on Green Banking (GB) and Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) was held via Zoom on April 21, 2022, arranged by PBA – through the courtesy of IFC – for the benefit of its members to better understand the concepts of the two approaches.
The Environmental & Social Risk Management (ESRM) for Pakistan’s Financial Sector is an initiative of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for which a Steering Committee (SC) and a Working Group (WG) has been providing regulatory guidance since early 2021. The WG includes representatives from IFC and PBA along with SBP and is committed towards promoting a sustainable business model in Pakistan. Several meetings of the Steering Committee have been held which were also attended by Ms. Sima Kamil, Deputy Governor- DFS, FI, & IT. Mr Tawfiq Hussain represents PBA at this Steering Committee.
PBA had also provided its feedback/ recommendations earlier on the ‘Mandatory Instructions on Environmental Risk Management’ as well as the ‘Manual for Green Banking Facilitation in Pakistan’ which have both been jointly developed by IFC and SBP.
The awareness session was organized by PBA so that Members may get clarity between the differences and commonalities in Green Banking and ESRM. Mr Yaseen Anwar, Senior Policy Advisor to the IFC Sustainable Banking Project, was the moderator at this session.
PBA CEO/SG, Mr Tawfiq Hussain welcomed the participants and other attendees which were present online, including Mr Syed Samar Hasnain, Executive Director, Development Finance, SBP; Ms Afifa Raihana, Senior Environmental & Social Specialist, IFC and Mr Wei Yuan, Project Lead, ESG Officer, IFC, who explained the ESRM project structure