Collective action at COP28

In his keynote our CEO Steven van Rijswijk stressed collaboration as the most important thing: “No one here can stop climate change. But everyone here can stop climate change.” Seeking further collaboration with our clients, sector experts, scientists, peers and with regulators and governments is key to this.

He also highlighted ING’s inclusive approach by recognising that “going green isn’t always black & white” and that small steps are better than none at all: “It’s about progress, not perfection. Every tenth of a degree matters!”.

Banks in particular have a role in financing the transition and guiding and supporting clients to more sustainable business models. But we also call on governments and regulators to guide the transition more firmly. To help answer the question “what does ‘good’ look like?”.

This is why we helped develop the Sustainable Aluminum Finance Framework (SAFF), in collaboration with the Rocky Mountain Institute, key aluminium industry participants and three other banks (Citi, Société Générale and Standard Chartered).

This framework for the aluminium sector was launched at COP28, with ING representatives Anne-Sophie Castelnau, global head of Sustainability and Meint Boschloo, director in the ING Metals, Mining and Fertilizers team, contributing. It provides banks with the tools to assess the emissions of their aluminium loan books and work with their clients to report their emissions, fund lower-carbon solutions, and support investments in new technologies.

Society is transitioning to a low-carbon economy. So are our clients, and so is ING. We finance a lot of sustainable activities, but we still finance more that’s not. See how we’re progressing on ing.com/climate.