Helen Thomas writes that the impact of green mortgages is currently underwhelming, with these loans only amounting to 0.4 per cent of total lending in the UK (“Green mortgages have yet to help net zero goals”, Opinion, November 16).
I must agree; green mortgages are barely making a dent. But while regulation may have a place, the banks are going to have to do the real legwork. Creating specialist “green” products, which are often second rate, only marginalises sustainability — the exceptions being organisations such as Ecology Building Society which are delivering real environmental change.
We don’t need green accounts and green mortgages — all mortgages, loans and accounts should be built with sustainability at their core and as part of their loan origination.
We need green banking to be mainstream, not some side project.
It’s appreciate when you see “Fairtrade” products in the supermarket — surely all products should be fair trade, and we should be calling out the products that aren’t.
Banks reach almost every person on the planet and hold all the cards on which businesses get funding, putting them in a huge position of power to shape the sustainability agenda. If they were to weave sustainability into all their loan origination processes and make it mainstream, they could deliver real impact almost overnight and deliver on real climate and social change.
But this requires banks to get serious about environmental, social and governance principles.
Slapping “green” on something just won’t cut it.
Steve Round
Co-Founder, SaaScada, London EC3, UK
