KARACHI: Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited in continuation of its global initiative for supporting sustainable financing and promoting earth-friendly industrial practices, has provided a sustainable-trade financing facility to Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited – one of the leading industrial enterprises in Pakistan.
This is a part of the Bank’s global initiative to cover different financial products which integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria into funding and supporting projects which have environmental benefits and typically promote a low carbon economy and help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
This robust investment will build capacity for importing and retiring BCI cotton in Pakistan, as Gul Ahmed Textiles is among Pakistan’s largest composite units, making everything from cotton yarn to finished products, whilst also having strong aspirations to become a ‘Green Company’, with minimum carbon-footprint and harmless emissions.
With this additional capital, Standard Chartered Pakistan and Gul Ahmed Textiles have structured highly sustainable trade facilities, in a manner to allow client flexibility with interchangeable limits, for issuance and retirement.
Sharing his views on this occasion Arslan Nayeem, Head, Client Coverage, CCIB, Standard Chartered Pakistan commented, “This is an inspirational initiative, where we are enabling high-performance clients and socially responsible enterprises to achieve their objectives of maintaining a healthy environment for the future, while seeking commercial progress and exploring growth opportunities.”
He further said, “We appreciate Gul Ahmed’s re-aligned policies, to promote the use of earth-friendly raw-materials, for production of textile goods, while consuming safer energy – preferably renewable-power. Additionally, we have also deployed automated internal checks and balances, to assist the textile industry in tracking the imports from BCI certified farmers.”
Mr. Zaki Bashir, CEO Gul Ahmed Textile Mills said, ‘At Gul Ahmed, we carry the vision of enriching lives by inspiring change. We believe as a manufacturer of textiles products, one of the ways in which we can be enriching lives is by adopting practices in selecting sustainable raw materials which are responsibly produced and sourced i.e. BCI cotton. We are one the largest users of BCI cotton in Pakistan, and through our sustainable practices we will continues to create lasting impact in sustainability through our vision.”
These new policies and measures will ensure that; only sustainable raw materials are routed under this banking facility. This sustainable business model is built as per the guidelines from, ‘The Better Cotton Initiative’ (BCI) – a global not-for-profit organisation, operating the largest cotton sustainability program in the world. They provide training on more sustainable farming practices to more than 2.3 million cotton farmers in 23 countries.
Standard Chartered Pakistan has a long history of contributing to the social-economic development and supporting communities in the country. Investing in communities is one of the three priorities of its global strategy.
