But it will require more imagination to integrate the environment into the whole range of banking activities. It concludes that banks have generally integrated environmental concerns into their credit risk process, and also in internal operations such as office management. The report recommends that all banks develop environmental management systems and write an environmental policy statement. UNEP has welcomed the report. The organisation admits that its statement on banks and the environment has progressed only slowly since it was launched at the time of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, and hopes the report will help reinvigorate the process.
European banks figure prominently in the survey.
Those who responded include Deutsche Bank in Germany, National Westminster Bank and Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation in the UK, Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation, the Bank of Ireland Group, Bank Austria, Unibank in Denmark and Banco Central Hispanoamericano in Spain. Banks considered to be environmental leaders in the industry have greeted the Green Alliance report as a step forwards. Some banks aren't considering this as a business management issue at all. But the leaders' opinions are not shared by all in the European banking industry. The European Banking Federation advised its members in 1992 not to sign the UNEP statement, fearing unanticipated legal or financial liabilities.