文献信息：
文献标题：Green Finance and Sustainable Development: An Indian Perspective（绿色金融和可持续发展：印度视角）
国外作者：Manmohan Vyas
文献出处：《International Journal of Multifaceted and Multilingual Studies》,2017,4(6):62-72
字数统计：英文2969单词，16580字符；中文5180汉字
外文文献：
Green Finance and Sustainable Development:
An Indian Perspective
AbstractThe present era of globalization has brought lot of luxury to human life but has also resulted inenvironmental degradation incorporated with all the involved activities. Today the entire economy is facing huge challenge to deal with the environmental problems and their related impacts in their day to day businesses. Today?s era is threatened from the major challenges of climate change, energy constraints and financial crisis. Due to all these reasons, business organizations have started modifying their activities and strategies so as to ensure protection to our natural resources and environment. If we have to give cleaner & greener environment to our future generations, this is the time economies across the globe shouldtake immediate preventive measures. In this context the financial sector can play an important role in promoting environmental sustainability. Sustainability is one of the most important factors driving the strategy making process of the business fraternity. In financial sector, various services that have adopted green business are banks, stock brokerage companies, credit card companies and also the companies involved in consumer finance. The concern for environmental sustainability has given mass recognition to the concept of corporate social responsibility. The potential benefits of
the concept has gained the interest of the regulatory authorities, society, NGOs, employees, customers as well as the international bodies to the issue. In this regard, this concern for environmental sustainability by the banks has given rise to concept of Green Banking. In the present paper, concepts of Green Finance &Sustainable development have been discussed. The paper also highlights various Green financial products & services offered by financial institutions & future scope ofsuch initiatives in Indian context.
Key words: Sustainable Development, Green Banking, Green Finance etc.
Introduction: Sustainable Development & Green Finance
Sustainable Developmen
\development is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.\
One of the important medium of attaining sustainable development is through cleaner
production.
It
enablesthemanufacturer
or
service
provider
toadoptclean,green,energy efficient technologieswhich in turn helps in lesser waste, positive impact on environment and thus, leading to greater sustainability.
However,
it
is
easier
said
than
done.Developing
and
adopting
environment-friendly technology measures require a tremendous amount of capital. UNCTAD estimates that realizing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) will require US $7-9 trillion annually over the next two decades or so. Government & public sector institutions alone will not be able to provide capital adequate to attain these goals & thus you need a framework to involve number of other stakeholders to serve the purpose. For example, as part of the Legislative framework, The Companies Act, 2013 mandates that larger companies should contribute at least 2% of their average net profits annually towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. The section itself has been a topic of discussion among corporates.
The Government of India has, in turn, launched a number of niche specialised funds / schemes such as Textile Upgradation Fund, Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme, and Tannery Modernisation Scheme with a desire to move Indian enterprises
towards cleaner production.India is among the few countries in the world to have introduced a carbon tax. The clean energy cess imposed on coal mined in India or imported into India is collected into the 'National Clean Energy Fund' set up for funding research and innovative projects in clean energy technologies.
Green Finance
Green Finance is a strategic approach to incorporate sustainability in the financial sector and to initiate the transformation process towards low-carbon and resource-efficienteconomies across the globe. Green finance is considered as the financial support for green growth which reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutant emissions.Green finance is thefundamental principle of Green Credit. It refers to a series of administrative measuresthat the commercial banks and other financial institutions carry on researches and developments toproduce pollution treatment facilities, beengaged in the ecological protection and restoration of ecological
balance.
It
also
develop
and
utilize
new
(efficient)energyresources,focusonthecircular economic production, green goods production, and ecologicalagriculturalproduction,provideloans to support relevant enterprises and institutions and implement concessionary low interest rates, but restrict new project investments of polluting enterprises. Finance for industrial and economic advancements with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and other environment pollutions is green finance. Green growth is the solution to threecurrent threatsto theglobal economy; namely, climate change, energy constraints and financial crisis.
Green finance facesa wide-ranging challenge to the traditional constructs of financial law in every economy. Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment. Environmentalism and environmental concerns are often represented by the color ?green?. Global warming, also called as “Green House Effect” is a global issue that calls for an immediate global response. If we wish to give a green & clean environment to our future generations, this is the time world has to take action. The warming effect of certain man-made gas emission such as carbon-dioxide,
methane, nitrous oxideand hydro-fluro carbon is found responsible for distortion in climate changes. The rapid change in climate will probably be too great to allow many eco systems to suitably adapt, since the changeshave direct impact on bio diversity, agriculture, forestry, dry land, water resources and human health.
However, there is general lack of adequate awareness on the above issues and hence there is urgent need to promote certain urgent measures for sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. From IT giants to hospitality, from Automobiles to Aviation, from Mutual Funds to Banks& other financial institutions, corporate India is moving enthusiastically ahead with green initiatives. As a responsible financial organization of the country with its crucial role in financing the economic and developmental activities of the country, banks have to play a major role in addressing the above mentioned ecological issues, both in terms of its obligations and opportunities by virtue as a responsible corporate citizen and as a financier.
Green Banking
Green Banking is not a separate bank. Green Banking means ensuring environment friendly practices in banking sector and thereby reducing internal and external carbon footprints. A broader view of this is that banking industry is linked to the external environment as it provides funds to others and hence finances their activities. Banks are a source of funds / credit. Sotheycan contribute to environment by ensuring environmentally responsible investment and a carefully evaluated lending. Green Banking therefore covers two aspects - The first one being judicious use ofall resources, energy and reducing carbon footprints and second being encouraging and financing only environment friendly& sustainable investments. So Green Banking is not only about making sustainable use of resources but also about environment friendly dispensation of credit. A proper scrutiny of all projects that are financed in terms of environment is another major element of GreenBanking. In a way, the cycle of investment starts from financial institutions & by ensuring carbon audits right at the time of credit evaluation, banks can play a pivotal role in Green Financing.
Green Banking is an umbrella term referring to practices and guidelines that
make banks sustainable in economic, environment, and social dimensions. It aims to make banking processes sustainable and the use of IT and physical infrastructure as efficient and effective as possible, with zero or minimal impact on the environment. Technology plays vital role in this &Green Banking can only be implemented bya proper& efficient use of technology. Following are few green practices or means of achieving green financing:
?Green banking means promoting through environmentalfriendly practices and reducing your carbon footprint
?Green mortgages from your banking activities
?Green loans forms - using online banking instead of branch ?Green credit cards, banking services, online billing
?Green savings accounts, CDs and money market accounts online ?Green checking accounts banks, instead of large multi-branch banks ?Green money market accounts, taking steps to support local green initiatives ?Mobile Banking - helps to create effective and far-reaching market-based Online banking solutions to address a range of environmental issues
Green Bonds
India is at a critical juncture in scaling renewable energy to provide energy access to its growing cities and vast rural communities. It becomes more imperative post the announcementof schemes like Smart cities by the Government of India. But, Financing remains the principal barrier to the rapid expansion of India?s clean energy market needed to meet the ambitious national target of 175 Gigawatts (GW) of solar, wind and other renewable energy by 2022.
A bond is a debt instrument with which an entity raises money from investors. The bond issuer gets capital while the investors receive fixed income in the form of interest. When the bond matures, the money is repaid.
A green bond is very similar. The only difference is that the issuer of a green bond publicly states that capital is being raised to fund ?green? projects, which typically include those relating to renewable energy, emission reductions and so on.