ICBC has recently signed the Declaration on Environment and Sustainable Development and joined the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative ("UNEP FI")  to become a member of the organization.

Founded in 1973, the UNEP is the authority for the world's environmental affairs in the United Nations, while the UNEP FI, created in February 1992, is a non-profit organization under the UNEP committed to sustainable development of financial institutions worldwide. It now has 230 members from the global financial community with increasing influence. ICBC’s entry into the UNEP FI will help Chinese financial institutions participate in writing international rules on sustainable finance, and further the construction of green banks.

According to an ICBC official, after joining the UNEP FI, the Bank will continue complying with the Declaration on Sustainable Development, adhere to green banking as its long-term development strategy, and promote the coordinated development between green economy and environmental protection with financial levers. ICBC came up with the concept of "green credit" as early as 2007, the first among its domestic peers to do so, has since set the implementation of "green credit" as its long-term development strategy, and committed itself to growing into a green financial institution that leads at home and excels worldwide. It has formulated a policy regime for "green credit", defined rigorous entry criteria for environmental protection, exercised the "one-vote veto rule", and put in place a long-term green credit mechanism featuring both incentives and constraints. In recent years, the Bank has adjusted its credit structure in a forward-looking manner, proactively channeled credit funds into sectors related to green economy, continuously stepped up its support to the areas of ecological protection, clean energy, energy conservation & environmental protection, and green transport, and realized green allocation of financial resources. To date, the Bank's balance of loans extended to green economy-related sectors has exceeded RMB 600 billion.