A study on the investigation of the sustainability activities of banks operating in Turkey

Developing industries and accordingly increasing production amount have started to bring up the issue of sustainability of resources. There are a number of activities to be carried out by the businesses in order to ensure that the production outputs not also continuing now, but also in the future. Sustainability is a rather wide-ranging issue from pre-production to post-production processes. For sustainability studies, all businesses, whether in the labour sector or the manufacturing sector, need to move with a common consciousness and provide a transformation in the industry. Businesses that have the main inputs of production and do not use it effectively create negative effects not only for their own activities but also for the environment. Businesses that harm the environment with waste, use resources unconsciously and do not carry out their responsibilities towards their stakeholders endanger sustainability. Therefore, with the increasing awareness, it is seen that businesses focus more on sustainability studies compared to the past. Sustainability is not only approached as an environmental and economic issue, but also a social issue. Regardless of the sector, it will be possible to leave a more liveable world to future generations with the studies that carried out on sustainability by many businesses. In this study, the sustainability activities of the banking sector, which has a large dole in the service sector and affects other sectors due to its activities, are examined. Sustainability reports published by banks and sections related to sustainability included in integrated reports were examined and data on what kind of work they carried out on which subjects were obtained. The sustainability studies carried out by banks were evaluated in three dimensions as economic, environmental and social, and the antecedents and outputs of the sustainability studies were tried to be determined. The annual activity reports of 8 banks in the BIST Sustainability index were evaluated with the document analysis technique, which is one of the qualitative research methods. In consequence of the research, it has been seen that banks attach importance to sustainability studies and operate in all three dimensions of sustainability. It was observed that the activities carried out, overreached beyond nationality and turned into international studies, and also these activities were carried out with a collaborative approach. It has been also observed that banks carry out studies on reducing carbon footprint, energy efficiency and waste management, and also carry out joint projects with other enterprises involved in these activities.