A Banker’s Guide to Maximizing Climate Impact through Multi-Level Engagement

The guide argues that banks should move beyond siloed engagement to a coordinated 'multi-level' approach involving clients, sectors, and policy makers. It highlights the need for internal coordination led by sustainability teams, refined escalation processes for non-compliant clients, and scaled sector-level engagement through platforms like the Poseidon Principles.

• Multi-level engagement is defined as the coordination of client, sector, and policy engagement to achieve specific climate-aligned outcomes, avoiding the inefficiencies of siloed efforts where different bank teams may inadvertently counteract each other.
• Internal coordination is critical, and sustainability officers can use engagement mapping tools to align stakeholders—including risk, legal, and C-suite teams—around common goals and specific actions.
• Banks require more refined escalation processes to justify whether to continue engaging high-risk clients or to cease the relationship when a client's business plans remain misaligned with the bank's net-zero ambitions.
• Sector-level engagement, which involves coordinating with trade associations, civil society, and academic institutions, is a relatively new but powerful lever; examples include the Poseidon Principles for shipping and the Sustainable STEEL Principles for steelmaking.
• Sustainability teams act as the essential 'connective tissue' for coordinating engagement but currently lack the staff capacity and resources needed to fully implement these strategies.

APA

RMI (2023). A Banker’s Guide to Maximizing Climate Impact through Multi-Level Engagement. https://rmi.org/resources/a-bankers-guide-to-maximizing-climate-impact-through-multi-level-engagement/

Chicago

RMI. A Banker’s Guide to Maximizing Climate Impact through Multi-Level Engagement. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/a-bankers-guide-to-maximizing-climate-impact-through-multi-level-engagement/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=A Banker’s Guide to Maximizing Climate Impact through Multi-Level Engagement |date=24 July 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/a-bankers-guide-to-maximizing-climate-impact-through-multi-level-engagement/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023bankers, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{A Banker’s Guide to Maximizing Climate Impact through Multi-Level Engagement}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = jul, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/a-bankers-guide-to-maximizing-climate-impact-through-multi-level-engagement/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }