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Q: What’s the position of corporates in making Sri Lanka inexperienced?
A: Going inexperienced is the most important affect companies could make on a sustainable footprint. And Hatton Nationwide Financial institution (HNB) has embedded sustainability in its enterprise mannequin.
A sustainability led enterprise method has seen us drive progress within the rural financial system by addressing key boundaries within the MSME sector together with entry to finance and markets, and technical data for monetary inclusion, whereas mitigating local weather change by financing alternate vitality technology actions together with waste-to-energy and solar energy initiatives.
Deputy Common Supervisor/
Chief Human Useful resource Officer/
Chief Transformation Officer
Q: What does ‘company sustainability’ imply to you?
A: As a champion of SME and microfinance banking, HNB takes delight in being the pioneering monetary establishment to financial institution ‘unbanked and underbanked’ rural entrepreneurs by our flagship ‘Gami Pubuduwa village awakening.’ Our purpose is to be carbon impartial, and accredited for local weather motion based mostly banking and financing actions, within the close to future.
This yr, HNB allotted an extra Rs. 10 million to help entrepreneurs affected by the continuing financial disaster as part of its flagship ‘Oba Venuwen Api’ (Section 2) to rebuild and revive the financial system. Launched on the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, this can supply a choose 100 entrepreneurs throughout the island Rs. 100,000 every for use for capital necessities.
Below Section 1 in 2021, 1,200 entrepreneurs obtained a Rs. 100,000 grant every, totalling Rs. 20 million in funding. An enthusiastic promoter, HNB is ready to hyperlink mission buyers to concessionary traces of funding domestically and globally to make sure capital expenditure is made obtainable on the lowest rates of interest.
Practising accountable Earth citizenship as a company, HNB has invested in vitality environment friendly gear throughout its buyer centres since inception, making certain that 95 of the 256 centres photo voltaic powered lowered their dependency on the nationwide grid by 19.7 p.c in 2021.
The financial institution has a powerful environmental and social administration system, which assesses dangers for lending, and advises purchasers on mitigating their environmental dangers and hostile impacts. HNB pioneered the launch of the Sustainable Banking Initiative in 2015 by the Sri Lanka Banks’ Affiliation (SLBA) to advertise accountable banking practices, which is now accepted by the Central Financial institution of Sri Lanka.
Whereas HNB has applied measures to give attention to decreasing its carbon footprint, the financial institution’s renewable vitality portfolio together with funding offered to photo voltaic, mini hydro and wind energy initiatives, exceeds Rs. 7.3 billion.
Q: How do you merge sustainability-related indicators into key efficiency indicators (KPIs)?
A: Monitoring and reporting on efficiency in opposition to sustainability KPIs are an vital a part of managing the financial institution’s environmental footprint, achieved systematically by the CEO’s sustainability dashboard.
HNB’s Sustainability Administration Framework (SMF) integrates its efficiency with nonfinancial indicators to develop a hybrid decision-making technique and assesses enterprise impacts based mostly on the UK’s accountability rules and International Reporting Initiative (GRI) requirements.
The financial institution works to targets established by the United Nations’ Sustainable Improvement Targets (SDGs) for example of localised sustainability in motion. HNB has launched and promoted environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliant funding alternatives.
As a part of HNB’s ‘Local weather Good Initiatives,’ every worker takes the ‘HNB Inexperienced Pledge’ to combine environmentally-friendly practices into their each day actions at work and residential.
Q: What current initiatives have been taken by you to guard the pure surroundings?
A: HNB has a Sustainability Basis to drive company citizenship by our strategic pillars: schooling, healthcare, neighborhood, financial empowerment and the surroundings.
Marking a milestone in its sustainability journey, HNB was awarded the ISO 14064 certification by the Sri Lanka Local weather Fund, recognising the nation’s main personal financial institution’s dedication to quantify, report and scale back greenhouse fuel (GHG) emissions.
Strengthening its dedication to spend money on sustainable progress, HNB accomplished its fourth yr of restoring and managing a 2.5 hectare block of degraded rainforest land on the Kanneliya Forest Reserve.
The financial institution has been an lively contributor to the restoration mission, which ensures the institution of on-site nurseries, fertilising vegetation, soil conservation, bettering plant safety strategies and making certain they’re watered within the dry season.
Group HNB cyclists additionally joined ‘Bankers on Bicycles’ for a pleasant experience to advertise a sustainable life-style, well being and health amongst our workers, and unite for frequent causes.
As a financial institution with 132 years of historical past and a heritage of serving Sri Lankans from all walks of life, HNB is absolutely dedicated to fight local weather change by focussed and holistic efforts to advertise cleaner inexperienced vitality.
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