Standard Chartered group aims to mobilize $300 billion in sustainable finance by 2030, official says

Are Indian institutional clients investing heavily in energy transition and low-carbon solutions?

We’ve released our first energy transition report for India to get a sense of our customers’ thoughts. We believe that investments in energy transition in India have increased and we wanted to monitor this. The 40 Indian companies we spoke to were optimistic about India’s ability to achieve its net-zero carbon emissions target. They spoke about increasing investments in the energy transition.

The customer base we spoke to was in the hard-to-comply sectors such as the chemical, cement and steel companies with which Standard Chartered has close relationships. These groups are called “hard to obey” because they face the most difficult path of decarbonization. We deliberately started this group because we knew that if we got positive responses from them it would be fundamentally encouraging. We can offer companies green bonds, green loans and use of the proceeds for specific projects we finance. My company is more focused on direct use of yield loans, for example financing projects in renewable energy, hydropower, carbon capital, etc. We have already grown significantly in India.

How big is the bank’s green finance portfolio in India?

We are in a quiet period and therefore we cannot share any forward-looking guidance. But I can say that Standard Charted Bank India raised over $2 billion in the 24-month period ending September 2025, supporting over 2.2 GW of renewable capacity in India. The Standard Chartered group has committed to mobilizing $300 billion in sustainable finance by 2030.

From a policy perspective, should India establish a dedicated green finance framework?

Many of these projects are large-scale infrastructure projects. When you build a large renewable energy facility, the term of loans is quite long, and governments worldwide need to have some geopolicy in place that provides assurance that when we lend to such projects, regulations and policies remain stable. The progress India has made in developing certain renewable technologies is remarkable.

Indian cities are among the most polluted in the world. Does this pose an obstacle to the financing of large projects?

Overall, there is optimism, despite the fact that there are environmental and pollution problems. As mentioned earlier, we examined sectors that are difficult to comply with and even they are confident in the country’s ability to move towards net zero emissions. The reason why we chose India as the first market of our climate report is to really try to play a role in solving the challenges that you have set out.

It is of course crucial that India grows its GDP, develops an economy that creates employment and has access to energy at a price that matches its GDP aspirations. That’s the basic scenario. We are trying to help the country by using our balance sheet. Our goal is to ensure that many new molecules and electrons are created. There are still many things we can do. One encouraging point is that the cost of solar energy in India is certainly cheaper and as the good infrastructure builds up, the progress that India will feel will be more immediate.

US President Trump believes climate change is a hoax. How will this impact the global decarbonization movement?

It is clear that when a big politician makes statements, it is not helpful for the sector. But what’s important to note is that Bloomberg announced a major investment report on the energy transition last week and said that 2025 was the biggest investment year for the energy transition market. In the US, investments have grown year on year. So despite the political story, investments are still positive.