Ninh Binh, June 7-8, 2024, Wildlife Conservation Society, Viet Nam Office (WCS Viet Nam) organized a technical update on “Wildlife protection policy and recommendations for applying ESG in financial institutions in Viet Nam”.
More than 20 participants who are epresentatives of the Anti-Money Laundering Department (State Bank of Viet Nam), commercial banks, training and research institutions in Banking and Finance in Ha Noi attended the event.
Ms. Bui Thi Thu Loan, Head of Department of Finance and Banking, Hanoi University of Industry shared on overview of ESG in financial institutions in Viet Nam, Ninh Binh, June 2024
In the context that ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) has become an inevitable trend in global business that many countries are now targeting at, environmental protection activities in general and wildlife protection in particular are receiving more attention and being integrated into the corporate social responsibility policies, especially those of the the financial institutions. Therefore, at the event, participants were updated on the overview of applying ESG in financial institutions in Viet Nam, the situation of illegal wildlife trade (IWT) and related financial risk indicators; and how the wildlife protection activities in Viet Nam are reflected in the Environmental (E) pillar. During the discussion part, participants shared their experiences in developing ESG Strategy and promoting ESG practices in banks, as well as their challenges in developing and implementing activities meeting requirement for the under the Environmental (E) indicators.
To promote the role of wildlife protection policies in applying ESG in financial institutions in Viet Nam, representatives of WCS Viet Nam proposed some suggestions to Vietnamese banks, such as: (i) integrating requirement of not trading, storing, consuming/using wildlife and wildlife products into Internal Commitments and Codes of Conduct for leaders and employees of banks, (ii) integrating topic of preventing and combating IWT into the internal training and communication programs of banks and training institutions, (iii) encouraging banks to participate in international initiatives on preventing and combating IWT. At the same time, to strengthen ESG risk management, financial institutions were suggested to integrate topic of combating environmental crimes, including IWT into their anti-money laundering and risk management policies.
At Cuc Phuong National Park, participants also had the opportunity to explore and observe the nightlife of wild species, and were introduced to the identification of some commonly traded species such as pangolin, turtle, primate, and otter; as well as learn of the operation of rescue and conservation of wild species at the rescue centers.
Participants participate in field trip to wildlife rescue centers in Cuc Phuong National Park, Ninh Binh, June 2024
The technical update was conducted within the framework of the project “Improving the effectiveness of multi-sectoral collaboration in combating illegal wildlife trade from Africa to and within Viet Nam” implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU); and the project “Scaling up efforts to counter wildlife trafficking in Viet Nam funded by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), United States Department of State