By Axel  Reiserer

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has recognised the most successful banks under its Green Trade Facilitation Programme (Green TFP) with awards for their performance in 2020, a year that was overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Green TFP allows partner banks to use their existing trade finance facilities to finance exports, imports and local distribution of imported green technologies and materials, in line with the EBRD’s Green Economy Transition (GET) approach. The EBRD’s strategic goal is to become a majority green bank by 2025.

The 2020 winners are as follows:

The prize for the Most Active Issuing Bank in 2020 – Green Trade went to Raiffeisen Bank in Ukraine. The bank facilitated the highest number of transactions under the Green TFP as an issuing bank, with a total CO2 emission-reductions impact equivalent to taking 2,800 roundtrip flights from Kyiv to London.

The prize for the Most Active Confirming Bank in 2020 – Green Trade was awarded to Commerzbank. The bank successfully supported the highest number of transactions under the Green TFP as a confirming bank, with an annual CO2 emission-reductions impact equivalent to the electricity required to power 90,000 electric cars for over a year.

These two awards were presented jointly with The Banker, a Financial Times publication that covers the world’s banking and financial sector.

Prizes for Deal of the Year – Green Trade were awarded to:

• Uzpromstroybank and Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen, jointly, for improving the energy efficiency of the retail sector in Uzbekistan, resulting in energy savings equivalent to the energy needed to heat 150 Uzbek households each year.
• TBC Bank and Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich, jointly, for boosting energy supply in Georgia by reducing reliance on fossil fuels through hydro power generation, with an impact equivalent to generating the electricity required to supply one-third of Batumi’s households for a year.
• Banka OTP Albania and Société Générale, jointly, for facilitating access to clean water in the residential and agriculture sectors in Morocco, resulting in the daily production of desalinated water equivalent to filling 100 Olympic-size swimming pools.
• Banque Misr for supporting circularity in the metal processing sector in Egypt, with an energy-saving impact equivalent to the annual generation of a 120 MW photovoltaic plant.
• Ukrgasbank and SEB in Finland, jointly, for promoting responsible forest management by supporting trade in sustainably sourced paper products, with a CO2 emission-reductions impact equivalent to planting more than 700,000 trees.

EBRD Managing Director, Financial Institutions, Francis Malige,said: “The coronavirus pandemic has tested the global economy like no event for decades. As much as it has exposed weaknesses, it has also demonstrated the crucial role of trade to keep the world economy going. The EBRD responded swiftly and powerfully with a new record in our Trade Facilitation Programme. But our engagement goes beyond crisis response: we need to build a greener, more sustainable and more balanced world and here, again, trade has a vital role to play.”

From 2016 to 2020, the Green TFP has supported 1,095 foreign trade transactions involving trade in climate change adaptation and mitigation technologies and materials, with a total volume of €958 million across 24 economies where the EBRD invests.

The TFP, launched in 1999, aims to promote foreign trade to, from and among the economies in which the EBRD invests. Through the programme, the EBRD provides guarantees to international confirming banks and short-term loans to selected banks and factoring companies for on-lending to local exporters, importers and distributors. The EBRD’s TFP currently includes more than 100 partner banks in 30 economies where the EBRD invests and more than 800 confirming banks worldwide.