Standard Chartered is launching its Sustainable Trade Finance Proposition across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Europe and the Americas that is designed to help companies implement more sustainable practices across their ecosystems and build more resilient supply chains.

The proposition builds the Loan Market Association’s green and sustainability-linked loan principles into its framework, encouraging clients to improve disclosure, reporting and definition of use, while meeting their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.

The initial focus will be on supply-chain finance, invoice financing, receivables services, bonds and guarantees, and letters of credit, and the product set will be expanded in due course. These products will help global supply-chain activities, estimated at US$19 trillion by the World Trade Organisation, become more sustainable.

The proposition’s framework supports:

• Sustainable goods: Working with customers and partners to finance underlying goods that meet agreed sustainability standards
• Sustainable suppliers: Supporting trade for suppliers who meet acceptable thresholds against ESG ratings or metrics, such as gender equality, responsible sourcing criteria and water use
• Sustainable end-use: Focusing on trade financing in sustainable industries, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, the blue economy, sustainable infrastructure, water management and clean transportation
• Transition industries: Helping industries transition and reduce their carbon footprint by offering trade financing that recognises efforts to help reduce emissions.

“Trade finance has an enormous opportunity to help make global supply-chain activities more sustainable by offering companies the products and solutions they need to achieve their sustainability agendas,” says Simon Cooper, CEO, corporate, commercial and institutional banking, and CEO of Europe and the Americas. “Our Sustainable Trade Finance Proposition will help companies build more resilient supply chains, as we work to make global trade more sustainable and inclusive."