The Chartered Banker Institute, the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) are proud to have launched the first pilot of the PRB Academy in India.
Launch
The PRB Academy was piloted in India from 30 January–2 February 2023. The PRB Academy is a collaboration between GIZ on behalf of BMZ, UNEP FI, The Chartered Banker Institute (CBI) and the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF).
Over four days, board members and C-level executives, general managers, climate change specialists, and relationship managers from the Indian banking sector participated in the event. The pilot was supported by our colleagues from GIZ India, who contributed valuable insights to content, sourced knowledgeable experts, and managed our stakeholders. Participants included representatives of public sector banks, private sector banks, and small finance banks alike. The pilot introduced India’s financial industry to GIZ as a strategic player in sustainable finance.
Impact of the PRB Academy pilot in India
The keynote of the opening session was delivered by Mr. Saurav Sinha, Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s central bank. He stressed the regulator’s commitment to adopting climate risk considerations in banking regulations while simultaneously building the capacities of Indian banks. After reaching out to our partner UNEP FI to learn more about the PRB Academy pilot, the RBI communicated the launch of the pilot and the PRB Academy to the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG), which met in India on 2–3 February 2023.
The PRB Academy pilot was held against the backdrop of several sustainable finance-related initiatives in India.
- First, the publication of an RBI discussion paper on climate risk and sustainable finance that has generated more than 1,300 responses from the banking industry.
- Second, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the capital markets regulator, introduced business responsibility and sustainability reporting (BRSR) regulations that require the country’s top 1,000 corporate entities to disclose non-financial climate and water data starting in 2023.
- India’s inaugural sovereign bond of USD 5 billion was also launched and captured a “greenium” a week before the launch of the PRB Academy pilot.
- India’s Federal Budget 2023 was released on 1 February and included a commitment to green growth and references to sustainable finance and climate change in the economic survey authored by the Chief Economic Advisor.
These events were only surpassed by India’s Presidency of the G20 and the G20 SFWG’s inaugural meeting on 2–3 February 2023.
Partners
UNEP FI is the main partner and funding recipient. The UN Principles for Responsible Banking are among the world’s leading frameworks for sustainable banking. Banks can use the principles to align their strategy, decision-making, lending, and investment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and international agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement. UNEP FI currently has more than 300 signatory banks representing approximately 45% of global banking assets. The UK’s Chartered Banker Institute (CBI) is also contributing its extensive experience training banks and their staff. The CBI is a global, not-for-profit professional training organisation for bankers with a mission to promote socially responsible banking in the public interest. CBI has over 33,000 members in more than 100 countries worldwide.
