ICICI Bank 2012 Annual Report Download - page 210

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enrolled in each session. The training is led by
ICICI Bank employee volunteers using handbooks
and learning aids that have been developed
specifically for the programme.
(ii) Payroll Giving
Since 2003, ICICI Bank has facilitated employee
donations to social causes through GiveIndia.
During the year, 6,320 employees participated
in the payroll-giving programme and a total of
` 9,912,474 was collected.
6. Go Green
ICICI Bank believes that business practices that
are environment friendly are key to sustainable
growth. It seeks to create awareness of this
among employees and customers. On World
Environment Day, the Bank launched a campaign
to make its customers aware of this issue and
urged them to adopt a greener lifestyle. ICICI
Bank lent its full support by switching off all the
signages and lights in its premises during the
Earth Hour 2012. The Bank estimates that over
the last two years it has saved an equivalent of
100,000 trees by proactively urging customers to
opt for e-statements. In addition, it developed and
circulated a quarterly e-newsletter ‘Chlorophyll’ to
all the employees of the company. The newsletter
discussed the developments in the area of
sustainability across the world. ICICI Bank was
among the only two Indian companies to receive
recognition from the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) for its efforts for spreading
awareness about ‘Going Green’ on the occasion
of World Environment Day, 2012.
7. Clean Technology Initiatives
ICICI Bank’s Technology Finance Group (TFG)
currently implements programmes on behalf
of the Government of India in the areas of
energy, environment, agribusiness and assisting
technology institutions to upgrade their
infrastructure to international standards. TFG’s
initiatives include efforts to attract and channel
private financing into cleaner technologies,
to create public-private partnerships to
mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through
energy efficiency and to promote sustainable
development.
In fiscal 2012, TFG assisted projects in the areas
of renewable energy and energy efficiency. These
include assistances to The Energy Resource
Institute (TERI) for its Lighting a Billion Lives
(LaBL) initiative and to Self Employed Women’s
Association (SEWA) for its project entitled
“Haryali”. TERI’s LaBL initiative is a commitment
to bring safe, clean and affordable solar lighting
to a billion people in rural villages that lack or have
limited/unreliable energy access. The initiative is
being implemented through the dissemination
of certified solar lanterns recharged from
solar charging stations on the basis of an
entrepreneurial model of energy service delivery.
SEWA’s Haryali project proposes to develop &
distribute modern cook stoves (that use less than
half the wood or biomass and emit no smoke)
and solar lanterns to its members. These cook
stoves and solar lanterns are expected to replace
the traditional stoves and kerosene lamps.
TFG has collaborated with the UNEP and
Frankfurt School of Finance & Management
for a one year ongoing programme (which
commenced from September 2011) to use
natural resources and solar energy efficiently in
an environment friendly manner. The programme
is developing two financial products namely
“Solar Off Grid Appliances Credit Finance” and
“Green Home Credit Finance” through a grant
from UNEP. The products are being developed
in consultation with the relevant groups in
ICICI Bank.
Promoting Inclusive Growth