After reducing the use of electricity and paper at its office, Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL) is now gearing up for carbon trading to show its commitment to environment-friendly funding.

“Perhaps, we'll be the first Bank to claim refinance from the central bank for carbon credits,” said Ali Reza Iftekhar, managing director of the Bank.

Iftekhar said his Bank has reduced electricity consumption by 33 percent and paper use by 40 percent in 2011. Four branches and six automated teller machines of the Bank are run on solar power.

EBL also has the credit to fund $3 million (more than Tk 24 crore) to Rahimafrooz to install an 18-megawatt solar power panel a few years back.

Now the Bank has come up with 'Nobodoy', a customised loan product to green financing. Some 36 agri-based areas defined by the Bangladesh Bank can get the financing at a 10 percent interest rate.

Minimum loan will be Tk 2 lakh and maximum at Tk 70 lakh under the Nobodoy product and no collateral will be needed for up to Tk 10 lakh loan, according to Khurshed Alam, head of SME Banking of the Bank. The moratorium period is three months.

Iftekhar is upbeat about the new green product and vows to spread it across the country. The Bank has already disbursed nearly Tk 60 lakh to eight biogas plants in Cox's Bazar.

“It's a journey, not destination,” he said. “We've started in a smaller way, but there may be a revolution in the years to come,” he said.

The EBL boss now dreams of carbon trading, which is a growing business, especially in the developed countries. The global carbon market now tops $100 billion. Carbon trading could top $1 trillion a year by 2020, according to research firm New Carbon Finance. By then, carbon would rival oil as one of the largest commodity markets.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 25th Jan 2012