James Emejo in Abuja
The Managing Director, Jaiz Bank Plc, Mr. Hassan Usman has said the bank’s Green Account initiative has successfully diverted 113.226 tons of waste from the landfills and saved 12.285 million Kg of green house gases or an equivalent of 1,011 cars taken off the road.
Speaking at the inaugural Islamic Finance and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Taskforce virtual meeting, he said Jaiz Bank in collaboration with its development partners including United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) and Chanja Datti were able to use the Green Account to protect the environment.
He said: “In less than a year, the project successfully diverted 113.226 tons of waste from the landfills and saved 12.285 million Kg of Green House Gases (equivalent to 1,011 cars taken off the road).”
In his presentation at the meeting, convened by the Islamic Finance Council UK (UKIFC) in partnership with the UK Government, which brought together over 40 global Islamic finance leaders, Usman also revealed that the bank is piloting a dedicated rural women economic empowerment scheme that had so far created job opportunities and moved about 2,239 women out of poverty.
The pioneering meeting is intended to explore the role Islamic finance can play in addressing the $2.5 trillion SDGs funding gap as part of the post-Covid-19 economic recovery.
Stakeholders had also discussed the need for the Islamic finance sector to move from talk to collective action to support the achievement of the global goals by 2030.
Islamic Development Bank President Bandar Hajjar also welcomed the initiative and called for greater cooperation between the public and private sectors and to use the SDGs to inspire financial innovation.
