ESG Governance

Our approach to ESG is guided by the philosophy of promoting long-term sustainable growth through business initiatives and responsible corporate citizenship. Building on our business principles of ‘Fair to Customer, Fair to Bank’ and ‘One Bank, One Team’, the Bank is leveraging its capabilities to deliver on ESG-related aspects that are important in the way we do business, in servicing our customers, engaging with employees, and environmental considerations. Our ongoing effort is to enhance accountability and transparency to our stakeholders and help achieve society’s sustainable development goals.

At the Board-level, the Risk Committee provides strategic direction and oversight on ESG issues, including environmental sustainability strategy, climate-related efforts, and risk management. The Corporate Social Responsibility Committee oversees social responsibility programmes. The areas that are within the purview of other Board Committees, like the Audit Committee and Stakeholder Committee, continue to be overseen by the respective Committees. Any updates relevant to ESG in these areas are presented to the Risk Committee.

The Bank’s efforts in ESG are further strengthened by a management-level ESG Steering Committee. The Committee approves key policies, initiatives and targets, disclosures, and periodically reviews the progress on ESG aspects. The Committee consists of senior functional heads and is chaired by the Group Chief Financial Officer.

During fiscal 2024, the Risk Committee and the Board reviewed material ESG-related matters, including key regulatory developments, and were provided updates on progress made on various initiatives at the Bank. The Board-approved ESG Policy was reviewed and updated to reflect the progress on ESG made by the Bank during the year.

Our Key Actions in Fiscal 2024

Focussing on Evaluating and Managing Emissions in Own Operations

We significantly increased the proportion of renewable energy in our total electricity consumption from the grid and on-site solar generation from 9% in fiscal 2023 to 35% in fiscal 2024. This was enabled through the procurement of green tariff power for the Bank’s facilities in Maharashtra and in Hyderabad. This resulted in reduction in the Bank’s total Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 15.7% during fiscal 2024 over the previous year.

The Bank evaluated new upstream emissions categories of capital goods and employee commuting, in addition to business travel category under Scope 3 emissions.

The Bank has set itself a target to become carbon neutral in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by fiscal 2032.

Strengthening Risk Management Practices

Better identification and management of risks relating to climate and ESG is an ongoing effort at the Bank, which involves sectoral analysis of hard-to-abate sectors to transition risks and expanding the ESG risk assessment tool to more sectors.

ESG Data Architecture

The Bank recognises the imperatives of ESG data governance, and the need to adapt IT systems to systematically collect, aggregate and report on a range of ESG parameters. During fiscal 2024, the Bank initiated efforts to strengthen the governance on ESG data collation and reporting.

Employee Well-being

Several communications relating to well-being were disseminated to employees through a dedicated portal, which included videos and webinars focussing on areas like health and fitness. The portal is also an avenue for employee volunteering in CSR activities. There has also been continuous engagement with employees to build awareness and create capabilities with regard to ESG.

Snapshot of ICICI Bank’s ESG Ratings:

A table comparing ICICI Bank's ESG ratings and scores across various agencies, including MSCI, Sustainalytics, S&P Global CSA, CDP Climate Change, and Moody's ESG Solutions, along with the scale and any changes in ratings.