Retail banks have started to promote sustainability and are affecting change — for example, Lloyds Banking Group’s ‘Helping Britain Prosper’ strategy directly tackles the challenges of ESG for all stakeholders, securing more sustainable returns and capital generation by honing in on housing access, inclusion, and regional development, while aiming to reduce its own carbon emissions by over 50% by 2030. Its efforts are aligning with a sustainable financing portfolio, pledging over £52 billion in investment by 2024 as part of their ESG strategy. Change is equally underway at the consumer level with NatWest introducing its own carbon tracker feature that analyses consumer transactions and applies it to a regulated emissions calculator, calculating the carbon footprint throughout the complete process. By introducing this feature as well as suggesting ways customers can reduce their own personal impact, they hope to save 1 billion kilograms of CO2e emissions per year, the equivalent of planting 1 million trees. To ensure banks can become sustainable whilst remaining competitive, accurate measurement of emissions is critical and must include scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions. This is not a simple task and requires a digitally enabled, agile and modern core at the centre of the business. If Financial Services firms want to drive meaningful impact, they will need to move from treating sustainability from the periphery to the core of their business priorities. By putting environmentally friendly initiatives at the heart of their business strategies, the banking industry can fulfil the needs of their customers and ensure we all play our part in building a more sustainable future. This is certainly a positive start to the UK’s mission of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, we still expect to see this industry ramp up its efforts as we get closer and closer to the point of no return. of new build houses in the UK are eligible for a green mortgage. However, of UK housing stock is currently ineligible, providing a significant opportunity for banks to serve these homeowners.” 83% £2.9 trillion “ Finance Monthly. Fron t Cove r Fea t ur e 11
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