ABSTRACT
This chapter provides one representation of 'banking on the environment' and an initial insight into the social construction of a lending officer's rationality for environmental management. It provides a case study which was conducted with a major UK bank, Lloyds TSB, to examine environmental assessment within its commercial lending function. The case study was conducted in three stages. The first stage was an examination of the Group's public environmental policy and its interface with environmental policies and procedural guidelines with respect to credit-risk assessment. The second stage was a questionnaire survey of lending officers across the Group. The final stage of research was a detailed examination of two hypothetical lending cases through interviews and focus groups with bank officers based in the north east of England. From interviews and site visits, lenders familiarised themselves with the borrower's business and its management. With an established bank customer, existing file history is used as an indication of their 'track record'.
