Advocacy / Sustainable Banking
Sustainable Banking — a financial sector that works for people, planet and profit.
2019
Sustainable Finance Principles established
27%
Of Tanzania’s GDP generated by MSMEs
5.2M+
People employed by MSMEs
4 yrs
Of regulatory engagement on adoption
Banks decide where capital flows — which makes the banking sector a significant catalyst for every other industry. That is why, when the CEO Roundtable of Tanzania chose a first focus for its sustainability advocacy, it chose finance: in 2019 the CEOrt partnered with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Tanzania Bankers Association (TBA) to establish the Sustainable Finance Principles for Tanzania’s financial sector.
“Sustainable practices are those that, at minimum, do not harm people or the planet — and at best enhance performance across environmental, social and governance dimensions.”
Six focus areas
The CEOrt’s sustainable banking agenda works on three fronts — the products banks offer, the capacity of the people behind them, and the system that governs them.
Products
Green & climate lending
Growing the market for green loans and climate-aligned credit — from renewable energy to climate-smart agriculture financing, an agenda the CEOrt has advanced with IUCN and the SAGCOT Centre.
Sustainability-linked finance
Encouraging instruments that tie pricing to environmental and social performance, so that capital rewards businesses that at minimum do not harm people or the planet.
Capacity
ESG skills inside banks
Building the ability of credit and risk teams to assess environmental and social risk in lending decisions, and to embed ESG requirements across the loan cycle.
Sector-wide awareness
In collaboration with the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Tanzania Bankers Association has conducted awareness efforts supporting banking-sector adoption of sustainable finance practices.
System
Regulatory engagement
The CEOrt has engaged regulatory bodies over four years to enhance adoption of the Sustainable Finance Principles — working towards a banking system where sustainability is the rule, not the exception.
Transparency & confidence
Increasing transparency in environmental and social management, and reinforcing stakeholder confidence in the financial sector as a whole.
Where the advocacy happens
From the boardroom to the banking hall
The CEOrt has convened bank chief executives and regulators around the key factors affecting the banking sector and their impact on access to finance, and brought lenders together with IUCN and the SAGCOT Centre on climate-smart agriculture financing — recognising that East African economies are already experiencing the negative impacts of climate change.
This work sits alongside the Sustainable Finance Principles and the Green Finance Campaign, forming a single agenda: a Tanzanian banking sector that finances sustainable growth.
Join the sustainable banking agenda
Whether you lead a bank, a regulator or a business seeking sustainable finance, the CEOrt Secretariat can connect you to the working conversations shaping Tanzania’s financial sector.