Role of green banking in sustainable development of India

Abstract

Today sustainable development and preservation of environment are recognized globally and for this main focus is on reducing the demand of fossil fuels by implementing the 3 R‟s viz. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Many research studies have also pointed out that increase in carbon emissions and reckless development without paying attention to environment can be a reason of occurrence of natural disasters. All over the world institutions are concerned about the overall impact of depletion of environment. Banks and financial institutions are also playing a major role in optimizing or reducing carbon footprints. Green Banking is also a part of India‟s mission of “Go Green” and plays an active role to take environmental and ecological aspects as part of their lending principle. Green banking is comparatively a new development in the financial world. Green banking means promoting environmental friendly practices and reducing carbon footprint from banking activities. It is a form of banking taking into account the social and environmental impacts and its main motive is to protect and preserve environment. This paper compiles the concept of Green Banking and also explains how Indian Banks are initiating themselves to enter in Green concept. It explains in a very lucid style the various possibilities that exist in the banking arena to increase energy efficiency and reduce the usage of natural resources. This paper touches on various and simple methods which could be adopted by any bank for educating customers on technology based transactions, saving energy etc. Also highlight the steps taken by RBI to motivate banks to take initiative to contribute in sustainable development of country.