Green Banking Initiatives as a Pathway to Sustainability: Insights of Indian Banking Sector in the Digital Era

Abstract

Banks play a key role in promoting sustainability by intermediating between users and suppliers of finance. They have increasingly begun to adopt green banking initiatives by facilitating programs related to environment and sustainable development. This review paper explores the various initiatives relating to green aspects undertaken by digital era banks in India, highlighting their endeavours to integrate sustainability with digital transformation .Green loans, paperless banking, and sustainable financing, efficient energy banking operations, and digitalization are the key initiatives by banks to reduce their carbon footprints. The paper also discusses environmental effects and economic sustainability, challenges, regulatory framework, awareness, perception and satisfaction of bank’s customers, factors for adoption associated with green banking. Even though green banking has been accelerated by advances in digital technologies, certain challenges persist like high implementation cost, lack of awareness among users and regulatory conformity issues. The study also highlights the problems faced by banks in implementing green initiatives suggesting strategies to enhance the adoption of green banking in India. By implementing technology enabled sustainability practices, banks in India can contribute significantly in achieving economic growth along with environmental goals.