Eastern Bank has organised a training programme to enhance knowledge and capacity of its employees in sustainable finance.

The event, styled "Navigating sustainable finance: reporting, ESRM guidelines, and green finance", took place at the bank's head office in Gulshan today, said a press release.

Shakhawat Hossan, Ahmed Zubaer Mahbub and Md Abu Rayhan, joint directors of the sustainable finance department of the Bangladesh Bank, attended the programme, where Chowdhury Liakat Ali, director of the central bank, spoke.

Speakers highlighted various aspects of sustainable finance, including sustainability reporting, environmental and social risk management (ESRM) guidelines, and green refinance schemes.

"Together, we have to bring meaningful change and build a more sustainable future for generations to come," said Ali Reza Iftekhar, managing director of Eastern Bank.

As a responsible financial institution, Eastern Bank adopted the environmental and social risk matrix in credit practice in April 2009 and was the first bank to provide green finance to Rahimafrooz Accumulators to set up a 12-megawatt PV solar panel assembly plant back in 2009.

In the last 15 years, the bank has developed investment relationships with more than 10 development financial institutes to ensure global standards in terms of environmental and social risk management.

Eastern Bank's green finance and sustainable finance accounted for Tk 1,179 crore and Tk 9,253 crore, respectively which means a year-on-year growth of 443 percent and 116 percent in the respective areas in 2023.

Caption: Chowdhury Liakat Ali, director of the Sustainable Finance Department of the Bangladesh Bank, and Ali Reza Iftekhar, managing director of Eastern Bank, pose for photographs with participants of a training programme organised by the latter at its head office in Gulshan.