Green Leadership and ESG Reporting: Are Zimbabwean Commercial Banks Prepared for SDG and ESG Reporting?

Abstract

Recently, researchers and scholars as well as policymakers have been interested in green leadership in an attempt to create a green economy and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With this in mind, the banking sector is not an exception when it comes to the applicability of green leadership. In the banking sector, some notable strides were witnessed in the past decade whereby financial institutions partially adopted the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Environmental challenges appear to be a missing link in the Zimbabwean banking sector as compared to social and governance issues of the ESG framework. Cognizant of the fact that many African economies are encountering daunting environmental challenges, green leadership in the banking sector is an urgent need of the hour. Without a deeper understanding of green leadership, it is of utmost importance to note that the attainment of ESG goals and targets can be very cumbersome, especially in African countries. Surprisingly, according to the authors’ best knowledge, there is no study conducted on the interaction between green leadership and ESG practices in the banking sector in Zimbabwe. Accordingly, this chapter captures the interaction between green leadership and ESG practices in Zimbabwe. With the effective adoption of green leadership, the Zimbabwean bankers can successfully implement the ESG framework toward fostering a green economy.