BIDV shared experiences to promote sustainable energy infrastructure investment at a seminar organized by the French Development Agency (AFD) in Hanoi on 17 February 2023.

At the seminar, Mr. Tran Long, BIDV's Senior Executive Vice President, shared the bank’s results in green credit activities and proposed solutions to strengthen the role of banks in promoting sustainable energy development.

Determining that financial resources from banks play an important role in developing green credit and promoting sustainable energy infrastructure investments, BIDV has defined green banking as a priority goal in its business strategy for the period of 2021 - 2025 and vision to 2030. The bank focuses on tailoring green products and services as well as adjusting the structure, organizational model towards green banking. BIDV also sets a certain proportion of credit to finance customers in the field of green energy, contributing to the transformation of the economy towards green growth and environmental protection. Currently, BIDV is the market leader in green financing with 1,718 projects, and outstanding loans reaching VND63,773 billion (equivalent to USD2.7 billion), accounting for 4.3 percent of BIDV's total outstanding loans and 13 percent of the total outstanding loans to the green sector of the whole economy.

In 2021, BIDV and AFD signed a USD100 million SUNREF green credit facility agreement to finance businesses in renewable energy. This is the first direct concessional loan granted by AFD to a commercial bank in Vietnam and is assessed by AFD as one of the fastest projects AFD has implemented. BIDV is also the first commercial bank to sign a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to implement activities to promote sustainable and green financial development in Vietnam. In order to contribute to the implementation of the Vietnamese government’s commitment at COP26, BIDV has improved institutional capacity; finalized internal processes relating to green credit; established a sustainable finance project management unit (PMU) to deliver the sustainable financial goals, manage ESG risks in credit activities, looking forward to becoming a net-zero bank.

BIDV is one of the first two banks selected in the technical assistance program under the cooperation plan between the State Bank of Vietnam and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) to build and complete a Green Bond Framework according to the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI) standards, in accordance with ICMA and ASEAN standards. With the cooperation and support of the Carbon Trust and the British Embassy in Vietnam, BIDV has developed and issued a Sustainable Loan Framework for green, social and sustainability linked loans and will soon provide internationally standardized products to customers.

As a key commercial bank in the Vietnamese banking system, boasting years of experience in lending sustainable energy infrastructure investments, BIDV has effectively served and re-lent loans of international financial institutions such as AFD, WB. The bank has affirmed its pioneering role in implementing the policies of the State Bank of Vietnam in promoting green credit, green banking, working positively with international financial institutions to contribute to the global energy transition.