"Many UAE banks have seen sustainable finance as a profit center", says Vijay Bains, Group Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of ESG at Emirates NBD. In this episode of ESG Currents, Grace Osborne, BI’s ESG integration analyst for EMEA, speaks with Bains about the rising momentum of sustainable finance in the GCC and its intertwinement with the region's economic diversification plans. With UAE's national banks' pledging to mobilize AED 1 trillion in sustainable finance by 2030, alongside strengthened Nationally Determined Contributions, opportunities for capturing sustainable value creation are mounting. From water scarcity solutions to green building initiatives, the GCC is scaling its sustainability ambitions at a time where other regions in the world appear to be stepping back.
This episode was recorded on May 1, 2025.