Bank Muscat campaign highlights key role of renewable energy resources
Renewable energy awareness workshops were organised by the bank, in association with Nafath Renewable Energy, attended by 1531 participants, including 683 school students, 723 college students and 125 entrepreneurs across the Sultanate
MUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the flagship financial services provider in the Sultanate, in line with its vision ‘To serve you better, everyday’ and commitment to partnership in sustainable development, hosted an event to mark the successful conclusion of an awareness campaign on renewable energy resources.
The ceremony held at the bank’s head office was attended by Abdul Razak Ali Issa, chief executive, management team members and senior officials representing government institutions, ministries, academic institutions and SMEs which were associated with the nation-wide campaign.
The bank, as part of its Imprints CSR programme, had launched several initiatives to promote sustainable development through renewable energy resources. Notably, renewable energy awareness workshops were organised by the bank, in association with Nafath Renewable Energy, attended by 1531 participants, including 683 school students, 723 college students and 125 entrepreneurs across the Sultanate.
The workshops were aimed at imparting a proper understanding of renewable energy resources and how to benefit from them, especially solar energy. The topics covered in the workshops included renewable energy resources in Oman and different ways to save energy at home.
The bank, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), hosted a workshop to highlight ‘Banking Solutions for Green Homes’. The green home programme is aimed at providing finance/credit facility to customers to encourage them to build or purchase environmentfriendly homes using solar power, LED lighting and energy efficient building materials. The bank aims to provide special incentives like lower charges and interest rates on Meethaq and baituna mortgage finance for houses featuring energy efficient design and fixtures. The objective is to promote energy efficient green buildings which will contribute to reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions in the country.
A core element of the Imprints initiative is to promote savings and financial planning. In this respect, the green products are aimed at helping citizens to invest in their future whereby they can reduce energy consumption costs as well as contribute to a sustainable environment in the country.
Targeting SMEs, the bank also launched an awareness programme to highlight business opportunities available for SMEs from renewable energy resources, especially solar power.
Meethaq Islamic Banking is associated with the programme on energy conservation with the focus on using solar energy for Meethaq branches. In regard to green initiatives, Meethaq has made a headstart in the banking sector in Oman with the country’s first solar-powered bank branch. Meethaq is the first bank in the Sultanate to fully operate a branch on renewable green energy.