Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a prominent financial institution, has unveiled its comprehensive Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy, presenting the bank's sustainability roadmap for the next three years.

This strategy underscores ADIB's unwavering commitment to advancing its sustainable finance objectives, augmenting its sustainable development journey, and reaffirming its status as a responsible and forward-thinking financial establishment.

The strategy reinforces ADIB's dedication to seizing opportunities arising from the shift towards a low-carbon economy, a movement that is gaining momentum as more companies actively seek to bolster their corporate sustainability initiatives through sustainable financing. It also encompasses the Green, Social, and Transition to Low Carbon Economy demands of various stakeholders, including corporations, governments, and consumers.

Nasser Al Awadhi, Group CEO of ADIB, emphasised the deep-seated connection between ESG principles and Islamic finance, which places significant importance on sound governance, social justice, and environmental stewardship.

He expressed the bank's pride in its commitment to ethical finance, transparency, and sustainability. Aligned with the United Arab Emirates' vision for a sustainable future, ADIB's three-year strategy aims to empower its customers to thrive in an increasingly responsible and conscientious financial landscape.

The bank is dedicated to supporting its clients in harmonising their ESG aspirations with their financial objectives and guiding them on a transformative journey towards enduring success.

ADIB's ESG strategy incorporates a series of measures designed to realign the bank's business model towards greater sustainability. It is accompanied by a specific three-year action plan, complete with well-defined targets and aspirations, to be implemented across all segments of the bank. Furthermore, the bank is actively formulating its net-zero targets and intends to publish pathways for achieving net-zero emissions, focusing on both its direct operational activities and its financing operations.

This three-year strategy seamlessly integrates into ADIB's sustainability policy framework, which revolves around essential pillars such as maximising positive impact, establishing enduring partnerships with customers, creating a robust economic footprint, fostering a people-centric organisational culture, upholding governance excellence, and remaining a steadfast partner for communities.

This approach seeks to instill sustainability and ESG principles into the core identity of ADIB as an Islamic bank, showcasing its commitment to pioneering sustainable financial solutions and effectively managing ESG and climate-related risks.

In addition, the strategy encompasses a wide array of key target areas and ambitions. This includes integrating ESG considerations into investment and financial decisions, finalising a sustainable finance framework for green and sustainable products, adhering to ESG reporting requirements, implementing an Emiratization strategy, developing financial inclusion policies and programmes, integrating ESG into governance structures and culture, and promoting gender diversity and employee well-being.

The implementation of this new strategy has already begun to yield positive results. ADIB's S&P CSA score has more than doubled, reaching 38 points, and Sustainalytics has moved ADIB from a high-risk to a medium-risk position. This positions ADIB favourably among both local and international peers while the bank maintains an "A" rating from MSCI.

ADIB remains actively engaged in a well-balanced portfolio of sustainable financing deals across the markets it operates in and across various industry sectors.

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Source: ADIB