Awarded bestowed at Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2016
India CSR News Network
HONG KONG: YES BANK, India’s fifth largest private sector bank, has been adjudged as ‘Asia’s Best Bank for Corporate Social Responsibility’ at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2016. YES BANK has been recognized for its leadership in Sustainable Finance and Climate Action, and Inclusive Finance at the Bottom of the Pyramid.
Since inception, through its Responsible Banking ethos, YES BANK has been at the forefront of mainstreaming sustainable development, with a vision to be the benchmark Financial Institution for Inclusivity and Sustainability. YES BANK aims to bring a paradigm shift in the sector and play the role of ‘catalyst for change’.
Rana Kapoor, Managing Director & CEO, YES BANK and Chairman YES Institute, said, “This global recognition is indeed a validation of YES BANK’s everlasting commitment towards mainstreaming social & environmental sustainability, leadership on climate change, renewable energy and value creation through solutions and products for the under-banked and unbanked. We certainly hope awards like these will help evangelize sustainability and environment management in the entire banking sector in India, Asia and the World.”
“At YES BANK, we realize that it is vital to adopt a holistic, long-term view towards CSR to be able to generate scale and resultant social impact. We remain committed to touching 10 Crore lives by 2020 by providing access to safe and clean drinking water, and mobilizing USD 5 Billion towards Climate finance in India through laser focused interventions,” Rana Kapoor added.
In June 2016, YES BANK announced that it will commit INR 250 Crores towards two key focus areas of livelihood and water security, and environment sustainability by 2020 through its focused and intensified CSR and Sustainability actions. This target demonstrates YES BANK’s dedication to positive CSR and sustainability actions, and is aligned with its commitment towards contributing to India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for climate risk mitigation, that it had confirmed in December 2015, on the occasion of COP 21 at Paris.
As part of its commitments, YES BANK committed to target mobilizing USD 5 billion towards climate finance in India, and provide access to safe and clean drinking water to 10 Crore lives by 2020. The Bank also committed to achieve the following by 2020:
- Target funding of 5,000 MW of clean energy
- Gradually increase percentage of Renewable Energy in its power portfolio
- Contribute towards creating a carbon sink by planting 2 million trees
- Offset Carbon Emissions of the bank’s operations
The Bank’ s Livelihood & Water Security initiative, in FY 2015-16, touched more than 2 Lakh lives a day by providing access to safe and clean drinking water and in a significant development, has partnered with the Indian Railways to provide safe and clean drinking water at the 1000 railway stations across India by 2019.
Earlier this month, YES BANK also signed an MoU with SIDBI under the World Bank initiated Partial Risk Sharing Facility (PRSF) for financing Energy Efficiency Projects program. The pact is the latest endeavor in YES BANK’s continuing commitment towards financing and promoting clean energy projects. In 2015, YES BANK became the 1st Indian Bank to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The Bank’sCSR commitment demonstrates its belief in Responsible Banking for sustainable business.
