Jorge Rubio, Citi’s global head of Social Finance visited Vietnam for meetings with several Vietnamese tech and digital clients.

Citi has been discussing social impact loan transactions with many of these clients as their businesses are impacting many areas, including education, healthcare, and financial inclusion for the underserved segments in Vietnam.

Potential resulting transactions are expected to contribute towards Citi’s Social Finance commitments that include the bank’s $1 trillion 2030 Sustainable Financing Goal of which $500 billion is for Social Finance and its goal to expand basic service access for 15 million households, including 10 million women by 2025.

Citi aims to be named among the world’s leading banks in driving the transition to net zero

The visit of Citi Asia Pacific head of Sustainability and Corporate Transitions Rapheal Erasmus follows the MoU for the Cooperation on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) towards Vietnam’s 2050 net zero carbon emission target signed in May between Citi Vietnam and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE).

The purpose of this MoU is to facilitate the exchange of information, sharing of knowledge, and technical assistance, to further accelerate the formation of mechanisms and policies to support low-emission development.

Rapheal Erasmus had a meeting with the Climate Change Department belonging to MoNRE. She shared with the Department and clients Citi’s net zero commitments, market trends in sustainability, energy transition challenges and potential solutions for the energy transition.

Citi’s sustainability focus areas include addressing climate change and supporting clients in the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Citi’s ambition is to have a spot among the world’s leading banks in driving the transition to net zero. Citi is building upon its long track record of environmental finance commitments by establishing a clear Environmental Finance Goal to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.

In Vietnam, Citi has been financing the import of wind turbines and working with a multinational company in the commodity trading segment for green financing to purchase environmentally friendly coffee from Vietnamese agents and farmers.

Citi is also working on a carbon offset project which distributes cookstoves and water purifiers to households in over 30 provinces in Vietnam.

The project’s scale is to produce a meaningful amount of Voluntary Emission Reductions (VERs) in the next five years. Citi aims to offer these VERs to corporate clients so that they can offset their carbon footprint to be in line with their net zero targets.