CIMB Group won the gold award in the financial services category at The Edge Malaysia ESG Awards 2024, crediting the achievement to its ecosystem-based approach to sustainable finance. The bank emphasizes a strategy that fosters synergy across its value chain. A prime example of this approach is CIMB’s sustainable supply chain financing model, which involves partnering with large corporations to support decarbonization efforts among their small and medium enterprise (SME) suppliers.
“We aim to approach sustainable finance holistically, providing solutions that extend beyond financing alone,” explained Luanne Sieh, CIMB Group’s chief sustainability officer. Among CIMB’s initiatives is the GreenBizReady program, designed to help SMEs navigate regulatory changes in the transition to a low-carbon economy through capacity building, advisory services, and loan interest rebates.
This award reflects CIMB’s broader sustainability efforts, including becoming the first emerging market bank in ASEAN to set and achieve Paris-aligned 2030 decarbonization targets for high-emission sectors. According to Sieh, “Sixty percent of our total financed emissions and 47% of our total financing and investment portfolios are aligned with a 1.5°C pathway.” CIMB was also the first global bank to set a 2030 net-zero target for its palm oil portfolio and the first Malaysian bank to establish decarbonization targets for sectors including coal, cement, power, real estate, and oil and gas.
To sustain this progress, CIMB follows its Green, Social, Sustainable Impact Products and Services framework—a taxonomy developed to enhance sustainable finance solutions. The bank tripled its sustainable finance target to RM100 billion by 2024, up from RM30 billion in 2021, and remains on track to meet this goal.
However, CIMB faces challenges, such as limited carbon emissions disclosures by companies in Malaysia and ASEAN, and a common perception among smaller companies that sustainability investments are prohibitively costly. Despite these obstacles, Sieh emphasized that regulatory measures like the forthcoming National Sustainability Reporting Framework will help address these gaps by promoting sustainable practices across the region.
“Achieving widespread ESG adoption will ultimately depend on increased collaboration, financial support, and education to drive sustainability across Malaysia and ASEAN,” Sieh added.
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