Green Banking in the Way of Sustainable Development: An Overview of Practice and Progress in Bangladesh

Abstract

The main objective of the study is to evaluate the practice and progress of the activities of green banking in the way of sustainable development of Bangladesh. Green banking is regarded as sustainable banking, which has a role to safeguard the planet from environmental degradation, with an aim of ensuring sustainable development. It comprises the choices that take sustainability into account. Sustainable development is an expansion that comes across the requirements of the present situation without overlooking the capacity of future situations to meet the necessities. Bangladesh is in need of proper adaptation and utilization of green banking for its sustainable development. The present study is conceptual and analytical in nature based on the secondary data with an extensive literature survey along with scanning the annual and quarterly reports of Bangladesh Bank on green banking during the 2011-2019 fiscal years. The secondary sources of data are internet and commercial banks websites, Bangladesh Bank (BB) websites and literature reviews, etc. The collected data are analyzed and interpreted in the light of the practice and progress of activities of green banking in Bangladesh from a global perspective. The study shows that banking in Bangladesh is in the diversification phase passing through the intensification and foundation phases. It is progressing steadily. They have a lot more scope to contribute to the diversification of green finance in the way of sustainable development of Bangladesh. Rigorous, effective, and coherent efforts from banks in this regard are the demands of the day.