Rabobank Group

27-1-2009 | CSR news

The Honest Bank Guide and website were published on 22 January 2008 by Oxfam Novib, Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth Netherlands and FNV. The report and website compare the sustainability policies of twelve Dutch banks, including Rabobank. Issue Manager Richard Piechocki takes a look at the report’s findings comparing themes, sectors, sensitive issues, sustainable strategy and social networks.

8 themes, 8 sectors
In the Honest Bank Guide (Eerlijke Bankwijzer), the banks’ policies are assessed according to eight themes: biodiversity, toxic substances and health, climate, labour, human rights, weapons, taxes and corruption, and transparency and accountability; and eight sectors: agriculture, dams, fishing, forestry, mining, oil and gas, manufacturing and banks. 

The report appeals to banks to accept their social responsibility and to exercise transparency with regard to their policies concerning these eight topics in the different sectors. Rabobank is pleased to accept this responsibility. The report encourages clients to make a conscious decision regarding which institution they wish to bank with. Rabobank likewise supports this objective. It is, however, vital that the research be carried out carefully and that the report is compiled in a balanced manner. The Honest Bank Guide report falls short in this respect and still has a great deal of room for improvement. 

Avoid or embrace sensitive issues?
The report’s compilers focus exclusively on the degree to which banks have succeeded in establishing concrete sector policies that can be employed as the basis for assessing clients’ sustainability performance. The report assumes, for the sake of convenience, that staying out of sectors that entail sensitive and stubborn issues is more sustainable than being active in one of these sectors. This can, however, also be seen the other way around. It can be concluded that withdrawing from a sector because it involves delicate social issues would mean a bank is avoiding its social responsibility. While evaluating banks’ policies according to their sustainability is useful, it is in itself not enough to ascertain whether a bank operates sustainably. More information is required in order to make this determination, namely details concerning the way in which the policy is applied in practice, the chosen sustainability strategy and how the bank manifests itself in a given sector and in society in general. These aspects must also be integrated into research, such as this, in order to attain a balanced judgement. 

Examining our bank’s sustainable strategy
In the case of Rabobank, its strategy can best be defined as ‘making the sustainable commonplace and the commonplace sustainable.’ ‘Making the sustainable commonplace’ points to the fact that Rabobank finances a wide range of extremely sustainable projects and initiatives. Examples include clean energy (solar energy, biomass, wind, waves and thermo energy), alternative fuels (hydrogen and biofuels suitable for this purpose), measuring and control systems, material recycling and water technology. ‘Making the commonplace sustainable’ means that, with respect to existing sectors in which the bank has been active for a more prolonged period, the bank examines the social issues business clients encounter in this sector. The risks for the client and the bank that are linked to an issue are charted in the sector supply chain policies and the bank and the client work together to find solutions. You could say Rabobank ‘stimulates new construction, but also focuses on making existing buildings more sustainable.’ The strategy of sustainable niche banks concentrates almost entirely on ‘making the sustainable commonplace’ based on a conscious decision to minimise activity in old sectors and industries as much as possible. This decision consequently requires acknowledging a less broadly-based social responsibility. This fact should have been stated in the Honest Bank Guide report. 

Use of social networks
Furthermore, the way in which a bank moves within social networks determines how alertly it can address social issues. Networks keep policy dynamic and ensure a bank listens to its stakeholders and puts the client first. The bank can utilise the obtained information to provide tailor-made financial services whereby the sustainability policy serves as a key starting point. The way in which local member Rabobanks put this into practice within their networks is a compelling example. This commitment to working within networks is further demonstrated by Rabobank International’s participation in a range of sector sustainability initiatives, such as the Round Table on Responsible Soy, the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil and the Round Table on Biofuels. The report also fails to take these kinds of networks into account. We are consequently going to have to wait for part 2 of the Honest Bank Guide.