Why Not? Sustainable Finance as a Question of Mindset: A Plea for a Confident Sustainable Business Strategy

Sustainability in finance, including fundamental changes to business as usual and touching on alleged taboos, can and should be much more easily and effectively achievable than is generally accepted, but we shouldn’t be frightened by this. Current economic development is widely considered to be unsustainable, which results in a number of challenges for financial institutions as a whole and specifically within any transaction. Pace and quality incorporating sustainability considerations into decision-making in finance in order to answer these challenges is not nearly sufficient. The situation has reached a kind of gridlock: despite the importance of the underlying facts and concepts and the urgency for adequate adjustments, there is an ongoing debate about exact definitions, the likelihood of certain developments and about who is responsible for what. The resulting uncertainty and specific obstacles are often perceived as or (mis)used as an argument for restraint or opposition; as a result there is a lot of awareness but only little and slow move towards sustainable finance. On the other hand, what is often not seen, or what is not want to be seen, the wide field of sustainable finance debate and considerations paves the way for a confident and decisive move to incorporate sustainability extensively into finance since it offers a number of modifications and alternatives to business as usual. This move is just possible and appropriate; it is more a question of financial institutions’ self-conception and the underlying mindset. Determinedly navigating a way through the maze leads to innovation, development and mutual benefit for all parties involved. How to successfully break new ground and how to overcome the gridlock is exemplified in this article by looking at how sustainability management was developed and implemented at the corporate and investment bank WestLB between the years 2004 and 2012. From WestLB’s approach, key elements of sustainable finance are deduced including an elaboration of the question of sustainable finance as a matter of mindset. The examples given include a far-reaching stakeholder dialogue, a first of its kind business strategy in coal-fired power generation, and another one in offshore oil drilling and production including in the Arctic.