Mr. Krit Jitjang, KBank President, said that KBank has operated its business in line with the principles of a Bank of Sustainability, accounting for the balance of three dimensions - environmental, social and governance - along with appropriate risk management and effective cost management. In parallel with business growth, the Bank has prioritized the delivery of sustainable value to all of our stakeholders, with the primary focus on climate change - a pressing issue that is impacting all life on earth. Global warming is now high on the agenda that requires immediate collective action in alignment with Thailand's aspiration to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and net zero emissions by 2065.
To make a lasting impact for our environment, KBank is aware that voluntary, concerted action from all parties in our society is essential. On the occasion of this year's World Environment Day on June 5, KBank has introduced the "GO GREEN TOGETHER - Let's Unite to Fight Climate Change" campaign under the GO GREEN TOGETHER program to encourage Thais to change their behaviors and embrace the green lifestyle. Although each one of these changes is simple for everyone, we can jointly create great value from such changes. Through the month of June, the following activities will be undertaken via KBank's social media channels and participating webpages related to environment news:
Promotion of 8R practices: Knowledge on the importance of behavioral changes will be shared to help address the problem of climate change, including sustainable consumption and curtailing of unnecessary consumption to minimize waste and reduce new production, thus lowering greenhouse gas emissions through entire production and consumption cycles. Based on the 8R guidelines, behavioral changes are simple and easy for everyone, by reducing consumption and using products as long as possible for the best value for money. The 8R practices include Rethink - to think thoroughly before buying or consuming any products; Reduce - to reduce non-essential consumption; Reuse - to reuse products as much as possible; Recycle - to transform used products in order to use them again; Repair - to repair for longest use of products; Regift - to give products to others so they can use them; Recover - to reuse products in new forms; and Refuse - to refuse unnecessary items, such as redundant packaging or anything made from environmentally unfriendly materials.
Promotion of behavioral changes to jointly create a great value: Activities will be open for everyone to join via two steps: 1) making comments attaching photograph under KBank Live posts to share ideas or practices of environmental conservation for at least one of the 8R practices under the #GOGREENTOGETHER hashtag; and 2) sharing KBank Live Facebook posts on 8R and making these posts public. For each comment, KBank will contribute THB100 to a total of THB1 million for a fund supporting solar cell installation at a hospital in remote area. Apart from energy saving, the campaign's contribution will also allow the hospital to use their existing budgets for procuring necessary medical equipment, which will be a great help to their patients, in terms of both quantity and quality of care, while being in line with the sustainable development principles with respect to promotion of clean energy and decent livelihoods of the people.
KBank therefore would like to invite everyone who cares about the environment to participate in the campaign, because every action you take is meaningful, and can create positive and significant changes in society and the world. Interested persons can find out more details and join the campaign via KBank Live at https://www.facebook.com/KBankLive or environmental news pages participating in the campaign, from today until June 30, 2022.
Mr. Krit added that KBank has proactively undertaken environmental operations since 2021 following the announcement of its Net Zero Commitment, targeting achievement of net zero in KBank's own operations by 2030. To this end, KBank has pressed ahead with modifications of its own operations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the management overhaul of its infrastructure such as office buildings, lighting and water systems, waste disposal and vehicle fleet, with the aim of saving energy and shifting towards clean energy. Additionally, KBank has encouraged our staff members to recognize the importance of this matter and change their daily behavior in order to set a good example for others.
Moreover, KBank has set a net zero target for its portfolio in line with Thailand's net zero emissions goal. Under the target, by 2030, KBank will offer financial and investment facilities for sustainability amounting to at least 100-200 billion Baht. Following the launch of the 'GO GREEN TOGETHER' project in early 2022 to link with and promote Thailand's Green Ecosystem in a comprehensive manner, KBank unveiled the GREEN ZERO loan campaign to not only help our clients and partners make the transition towards the net zero emissions goal, but also facilitate our retail and corporate customers interested in purchasing electric vehicles or installing solar panels. The Bank has set a target to extend loans and invest for sustainability of 25 billion Baht for 2022. The 'GO GREEN TOGETHER: Let's Unite to Fight Climate Change' campaign is one of KBank's commitments for encouraging all Thais to take collaborative action in conserving the environment and achieving Thailand's net zero emissions goal.
Source: KASIKORNBANK
