ICC launched the Principles for Sustainable Trade and Trade Finance in October 2024, providing a framework for assessing sustainability. These Principles help mitigate risks of greenwashing by offering clear, transparent and consistent guidelines along with standardised definitions enabling banks, corporates and investors to effectively channel capital towards sustainable and inclusive trade finance.
In February 2025, Standard Chartered became the first international bank to have adopted ICC’s Sustainable Trade Finance Principles(Opens in a new window). Through the successful arrangement of this sustainable trade syndication, Standard Chartered has promoted ICC Principles among participating banks in different markets.
The syndicated bank guarantee has received a second-party opinion from Lianhe Equator, certifying its compliance with multiple standards such as ICC’s Principles for Sustainable Trade Finance as well as LMA’s Green Loan Principles.
Jean Lu, CEO, Standard Chartered China, and Executive Vice Chair of the China Board, stated, “We’re pleased to close this syndicated bank guarantee for Envision Group, which marks the world’s first sustainable trade finance deal aligned with the ICC Principles. This transaction reflects our commitment to supporting the development of renewable energy, and underscores our expertise across sustainable cross-border trade. We will continue to act in line with the ICC Principles, to scale sustainable trade finance solutions for our clients and across our markets.”
Zhou Hongwen, Founding Partner and Executive Director of Envision Energy said, “It is a great pleasure to cooperate with more than ten financial institutions from different countries and regions around the world, which is a milestone of the deep integration of green finance and green technology. We’re expanding our renewable energy business in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and other regions. The widespread support and recognition of global financial institutions will help us promote our strategic layout of green and low-carbon transformation, accelerating the realisation of global green prosperity.”
Liu Jingyun, Executive President and General Manager of Green Finance Business Department of Lianhe Equator, said, “We are honoured to provide evaluation and certification services for this green trade financing. As an important partner of Standard Chartered in the field of sustainable finance, Lianhe Equator has provided consulting and evaluation services for multiple sustainable financing businesses. In the future, we hope to leverage our expertise in sustainable financing, energy conservation and environmental protection, carbon certification and consulting, to provide more independent, objective, and valuable evaluation and certification services, and promote the high-quality development of sustainable finance.”
Envision is a world-leading green technology company, dedicated to being a net-zero technology partner for global enterprises, governments, and institutions. Focused on smart wind turbines, energy storage, and green hydrogen solutions, Envision delivers integrated solutions to accelerate decarbonisation. In January 2025, Standard Chartered China and Envision signed the Memorandum of Understanding to deepen their strategic cooperation in global markets. Envision’s ESG performance lays a solid foundation for this collaboration.
