ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the links between environmental awareness and lending practices in Bangkok, where the headquarters of the country's principal national and international banks are located. Banks' involvement with environmental issues was first formalised a decade ago when a number of financial institutions backed the United Nations Environment Programme initiative, 'Statement by Financial Institutions on the Environment and Sustainable Development'. The reason that environmental assessments in Thailand have not become more developed is that the environmental legal system is based on a command-and-control approach without strict enforcement. The range of areas in which banks can introduce environmentally oriented practice is broad: internal operations, credit risk assessments, preparation of environmental products, multi-sectoral work, support of environmental projects, green funding. Green investment' has moved forward in Western countries in identifiable stages, beginning with ethical funds in the early 1980s, followed by funds focusing on green technologies.
