14 May 2012 – China Dialogue, Wang Haotong

The financial industry remains secretive about the loans it makes, but tireless campaigning by green groups offers hope for change. Wang Haotong reports on the latest civil-society assessment of Chinese banks. ... Whether or not banks subscribe to international environmental norms is an important marker of their performance in this area. But the number of Chinese financial institutions adopting global green-lending standards has stayed stubbornly low. Industrial Bank has outstripped its peers here, having signed up to the Equator Principles – a voluntary set of standards for assessing social and environmental risk in project financing – as well as the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the Carbon Disclosure Project, a scheme that tracks the carbon emissions and climate actions of the world’s biggest firms. Read More.

4 April 2012 - IFC

As a growing number of Thai banks finance ever more hydropower projects in the Mekong region, IFC is striving to raise the sustainability of such multi-million dollar infrastructure investments by familiarizing banks with environmental and social risk management tools.  Earlier this month, IFC and The Thai Bankers’ Association held a workshop in Bangkok to discuss how Thai banks can manage their exposure to environmental and social risks while taking leadership in fostering sustainable economic growth in the Mekong region. Read More.

27 April 2012 - Council on Foreign Relations, Stewart M. Patrick

Among the many frustrations in development, perhaps none looms larger than the “resource curse.” Perversely, the worst development outcomes—measured in poverty, inequality, and deprivation—are often found in those countries with the greatest natural resource endowments. Rather than contributing to freedom, broadly shared growth, and social peace, rich deposits of oil and minerals have often brought tyranny, misery, and insecurity to these nations. Read More.