By Martin Rohner, Executive Director, Global Alliance for Banking on Values
Introduction letter to the 2021 Annual Report by the Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values.
In 2021, the world remained firmly in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, characterised by spikes in infections and new Corona variants. As effective and affordable vaccines are increasingly available at a global scale and a less dangerous variant is on the rise, there is hope that we may largely overcome the crisis in the new year to the point where we can focus our attention back to more mid and longer-term social and environmental issues.
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There were other, more immediate challenges to their work for some of our members during 2021. In the spring, conflict flared up in the Middle East, challenging our member, Bank of Palestine, to respond and provide emergency support for the community it serves. Extreme weather events including both heatwaves and flooding in Canada and the Northwest of the USA, catastrophic floods in Europe and China, and forest fires in the Mediterranean were grim reminders of global warming. And following regime change in Afghanistan, our member First Microfinance Bank Afghanistan had to adapt its business and operating model, virtually overnight, so it could continue to serve the most vulnerable, in line with Sharia rules.
For all its shortcomings, the UK-hosted COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, produced a collective commitment to curb methane emissions, halt and reverse forest loss, replace the internal combustion engine with electric propulsion, accelerate the phase-out of coal and end international finance for fossil fuels.
“We are at the beginning of an unprecedented transformation of our economy to save our planet and all of us who depend on it.”
While we are still only at the beginning and there is much, much more to do, the momentum can no longer be stopped. Importantly, these developments reflect the changing values of a younger, more socially and environmentally conscious generation committed to a more sustainable future.
The economic opportunities that this transformation brings, are enormous. It’s also clear that finance must play a fundamental role to make these deep-seated changes a reality. Values-based banks will be at the vanguard of this effort. Our movement can make sure that future-oriented projects and initiatives happen by financing them directly. And it can help ensure that the transformation progresses with the urgency required and commitments are fulfilled by collectively, constructively and convincingly arguing for change.
“More than ever, we must stand together as a community, learn from each other, and show the way.”
This is the raison d’être of our movement and one of the core tasks of the GABV. Against this backdrop, we are delighted to share the milestones and results of our work in the past year in this annual report.
Highlights included the GABV’s first-ever virtual annual meeting in March 2021, which Sunrise Banks generously hosted. I am very pleased that our network has continued to grow with two new members, Finca DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Credo Bank, Georgia; both from regions where the GABV intends to expand its footprint. For their part, the well-attended Regional Chapter Meetings produced rich content and thought-provoking discussions. Finally, our new Community Space launched at the end of the year will usher in a new era of collaboration among our members. In short, we have made substantial progress in implementing our 2023 Strategy as you will see across this report.
