ESG-management in financial institutions

In 2010, we assisted a West African bank with the development of an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) for its project finance products. Our work comprised designing the management process, developing supporting documents (policies, manuals, procedures, formats) and training the bank’s employees on the relevance of sustainability and the changes in the credit processes made in order to really integrate the ESMS.

The ESMS helped our client to better understand the environmental and social risks and opportunities in its portfolio. This put them in a better position to gain access to capital as investors (e.g. development finance institutions) increasingly ask financial institutions to have sustainability practices in place.

The client was very satisfied with our hands-on approach and the integration of the ESMS specially tailored to their needs. The project has been completed, but we anticipate regular updating and maintenance of the system.