Abstract:
The study analyzes green banking practices, initiatives, and prospects in India and Bangladesh to examine how green finance can help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG 7's goal for affordable and clean energy, and SDG 13's goal for climate action. Using secondary data, the study performs a comparative analysis of the green banking practices and initiatives of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) and the State Bank of India (SBI). Green finance is crucial for sustainable development, addressing environmental challenges, and mitigating climate change by directing capital towards eco-friendly projects, and encouraging responsible banking and investments. The results show that SBI has adopted more green initiatives and invested more in green projects than BB. Both banks and their respective governments are dedicated to meeting SDGs 7 and 13 by providing more funds for green projects, supporting the clean energy transition, redesigning their banking practices, and developing new products aligned with green finance. Governments should create awareness about climate change and green banking practices, and strictly supervise these activities. Increasing the positive environmental impacts of banking is vital. For this, increased scrutiny of the environmental impact of funded projects and allocating additional funds for more ambitious environmentally friendly initiatives are necessary. Finally, a universally agreed-upon consensus on green practices remains elusive, suggesting that a more proactive regulatory role is needed.
