ING published its annual Climate Progress Update 2024, highlighting its commitment to driving the transition to a low-carbon economy. The update highlights the company's client engagement efforts and steers the most carbon-intensive sectors in their loan portfolio to achieve global climate goals.
"With Hong Kong's increasing focus on green finance and carbon reduction, we are leveraging our global expertise to support industries in reducing their environmental impact, particularly through sustainable infrastructure, renewable energy, and innovative financing structures," James Poon, country manager for Mainland China and Hong Kong SAR at ING, commented.
ESG.X
ING used a specially developed tool called ESG.X to assess the disclosures of around 2,000 wholesale banking clients, including those in carbon-intensive sectors. The tool generates a client transition plan score integrated into ING's risk assessments and transaction approvals.
Steven van Rijswijk, CEO of ING. "In the past year, we've taken several important steps to sharpen how we engage with clients on their transition towards net zero. We assessed the sustainability disclosures of around 2,000 of our largest clients with an online tool we've developed. This gives us the foundation for more data-informed discussions with our clients about their progress and how we can support them in their transition and drive down their emissions."
Climate progress update
The update also included ING's renewable financing milestones, which extended our climate action to a broader range of environmental issues and expanded their Terra approach to cover 12 sectors, now including aluminum and dairy.
The company also announced that it will immediately cease new general financing for pure-play upstream oil and gas companies involved in new field developments. Starting next year, it will also stop new funding for LNG export terminals in line with the IEA's 2023 Net Zero Roadmap.
