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| Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong awarded the Special Prize of the "Green Bank for Green Life 2024" Contest to the Agribank team. |
The journey of "greening" credit
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges the world faces. The consequences of storms, droughts, floods and biodiversity loss are threatening economies , especially those in developing countries. In this context, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and moving towards Net Zero (net zero emissions) has become a key goal to limit global warming and sustain life on earth. For Vietnam, an important milestone opened at the Climate Summit within the framework of COP26 in Glasgow, UK in November 2021, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announced that Vietnam is committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050.
The statement of the Head of Government is a call to all levels and sectors from central to local levels to strive to achieve the Net Zero goal for the sustainable development of the whole society.
Determining that green growth is no longer an option, but has become a mandatory requirement, the banking industry has recently oriented policies and solutions to promote green credit very early, creating a solid foundation for the banking system to realize the Net Zero commitment at COP26.
Since 2015, Directive No. 03/CT-NHNN (2015) on promoting green credit growth and managing environmental and social risks in credit granting activities; The Governor of the State Bank also issued Decision No. 1604/QD-NHNN dated August 7, 2018 on approving the Green Banking Development Project in Vietnam to orient credit institutions to develop green banking activities towards environmental protection, combating climate change, contributing to promoting green growth and sustainable development. The State Bank has coordinated with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to issue a Handbook on Environmental and Social Risk Assessment for 15 economic sectors in credit granting activities. Notably, not only has the legal framework been completed but the green portfolios have also been proactively developed since 2017. The State Bank has coordinated with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) to develop a portfolio of 12 manufacturing sectors for lending...
To implement the National Strategy on Green Growth for the period 2023-2030, the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam issued Decision No. 1408/QD-NHNN with 7 groups of tasks and comprehensive, synchronous solutions in the operations of the banking system. In particular, the work of reviewing and perfecting the legal framework on credit in general, green credit and environmental and social risk management in particular has been implemented by the State Bank of Vietnam. Thereby, creating conditions to improve the operational capacity of credit institutions, diversifying forms of credit granting to increase people and businesses' access to bank credit capital for production and business, including projects and production and business plans with environmental benefits and environmental protection.
To increase resources for green transformation, the State Bank has proactively worked and exchanged with international financial institutions such as the World Bank, ADB, JBIC, etc. to mobilize finance for green growth and sustainable development. On that basis, the State Bank has researched and proposed coordination mechanisms and implementation methods suitable to the new context and trends.
The training and development of human resources in the banking sector to implement the National Strategy on green growth has been given attention and implemented in a variety of forms. At the same time, the State Bank has also increased communication on the banking sector's policies and guidelines on green credit and green banking through information portals, newspapers, seminars and financial education programs...
Credit institutions have actively implemented tasks and solutions to achieve green credit goals in line with the direction of the State Bank, gradually meeting international standards, such as: Proactively promulgating and integrating green growth implementation contents into the Strategy and Business Development Plan; diversifying resources (green deposit products, issuing green bonds, accessing capital from Funds and international financial institutions) for green growth in addition to traditional mobilized capital sources...
Many commercial banks such as Vietcombank, VietinBank, HSBC, BIDV, VPB, HDBank... have actively cooperated with international organizations to deploy many green credit products specifically for the renewable energy and green energy sectors, with lower loan interest rates than conventional credit loans.
After more than a decade of implementation, green credit has become one of the bright spots of the banking system. Green credit growth reached 22%/year - much higher than the general credit growth rate. Dozens of commercial banks have participated in lending to green projects, especially in the renewable energy sector. Outstanding loans for renewable energy increased from VND 9,500 billion (2017) to nearly VND 290,000 billion (June 2025), a growth rate of about 150%/year, accounting for 39% of outstanding green credit in the whole system - a clear demonstration of the pioneering role of the banking industry in supporting energy transition. In particular, some banks have outstanding growth rates such as BIDV, by the end of 2024, the bank had sponsored 2,068 green projects with outstanding loans of nearly VND 80,870 billion, accounting for nearly 12% of total outstanding green credit in the whole system.
Bringing green credit into emulation movements
Not only completing the legal corridor and issuing a series of action plans towards the goal of green growth, the banking industry also includes the task of developing green credit in the emulation movement, turning emulation into a driving force to overcome all difficulties on the journey of greening credit.
Notable among them is the "Green Bank for Green Life" contest launched by the Vietnam Banking Trade Union, creating a strong influence, arousing the pride and sense of responsibility of union members and employees in the journey of building a bank with sustainable development. The contest attracted 22 teams from credit institutions to participate, bringing many in-depth contests on green credit, sustainable development and the policies of the Party and Government on green growth. In particular, the Eloquence contest left an impression with convincing viewpoints, many highly practical solutions, and vivid presentations with images, charts, illustrative stories... From the contest, there will certainly be many good and creative initiatives put into practical application, contributing to positioning the important role of the banking industry in pioneering the promotion of green economy and minimizing environmental impacts, making practical contributions to the country's sustainable development goals.
At the bank level, many practical activities have been implemented to promote green economic development. BIDV is a typical example when it regularly maintains the charity run "BIDV RUN - For a green life", converted into running steps to raise funds to build community houses to avoid floods and plant trees. Agribank organizes the run "For a green future", spreading the green message throughout the system. Vietcombank implements the program "1 billion green steps", contributing 3 billion VND to the Vietnam Children's Fund and calling on customers to join hands to support through the account "Step forward with me".
Not only spreading the green spirit through emulation movements, many banks also incorporate "green living" into every daily activity. Implementing the orientation to become a "Net-Zero Bank", BIDV sets a net emission target of "0" right from daily operations and working habits. Through the grassroots union system, BIDV coordinates with local authorities to propagate and raise awareness among employees about the meaning of green practices; encourage staff to change from small actions such as using glass bottles, bamboo straws, paper bags; saving paper, electricity, water; planting trees; classifying waste and minimizing plastic bags. These activities are integrated with the movement to build a "Green - Clean - Beautiful" working space, ensuring occupational safety and hygiene, creating an environmentally friendly transaction space at each unit and affiliated union organization.
Along with BIDV, many other banks are also actively digitizing to move towards a paperless working environment, promoting digital banking, digital signatures, eKYC; applying technology in lighting systems, air conditioning, and printers to save energy. Initiatives such as waste classification, recycling, optimizing electricity consumption, organizing paperless working days, or spreading tree planting activities, running for the environment, and saving energy have contributed to forming green habits throughout the system.
Every small action builds up a big goal, which is for a green future of sustainable development for Vietnam. As the lyrics of a song composed by a central bank official: “So that bank capital can tirelessly create a new source of life/How beautiful are the green capital, the green future, the green healthy life/How beautiful are the minds and hands that still day and night pour their thoughts into the capital, for love, for green banks, for tomorrow…”.
Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/tin-dung-xanh-dong-luc-kien-tao-tang-truong-ben-vung-174053.html
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