Sustainability
Standard Chartered Bank CSR Activities
With our global footprint, we have a role to play in connecting capital, expertise and partnerships to where they are needed most as our clients and communities navigate the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to a more sustainable future.
We partner with global and local NGOs to support Standard Chartered Group and the Standard Chartered Foundation to empower underserved young people, especially young women and people with disabilities, to learn, earn and grow.
Youth unemployment remains a key challenge in many of our markets. Engaging key external stakeholders such as local businesses and governments in the youth employment and entrepreneurship ecosystem is essential to equip participants with the skills, capabilities and networks they need to access employment and business growth opportunities.
In 2025, together with the Standard Chartered Foundation, we further advanced strategic NGO partnerships in support of our aim to empower underserved young people. We launched new employability programmes across Asia, as well as in Kenya and Nigeria, to help young people access quality jobs. We also continued to work with our partners to adapt existing programmes so that we can keep supporting as many young people as possible.
During the 2025 United Nations General Assembly, we hosted a high-level hybrid event with NGOs, multilaterals, employers and young people to explore how barriers to decent work for young people in Africa can be removed. To inform this discussion, the Standard Chartered Foundation worked with Business Fights Poverty to develop a report setting out a new role for corporate foundations in response to the significant reduction in funding in 2025.
In ASEAN, we also convened NGOs and other stakeholders to discuss the design of a new ecosystem programme focused on the blue economy — sustainable economic activity using marine resources — with the aim of creating stable employment opportunities for young people.
For more information on our global sustainability initiatives, please see:
Sustainability | Standard Chartered
Volunteering Activities in Japan
We offer every colleague three days of paid volunteering leave each year, enabling them to support causes where help is needed most and use their skills to make a positive difference in our communities.
In 2025, Standard Chartered Bank Tokyo Branch took part in a range of volunteering activities.
Arakawa Cleanup Activity
In cooperation with certified nonprofit organisation Hands On Tokyo and the Arakawa Clean-aid Forum, we participate in the Arakawa Cleanup Activity. The activity provides an opportunity to learn about river and marine litter, an important social issue, and to consider what each of us can do in our daily lives.
Fieldwork at the Arakawa River! Arakawa Clean-aid Forum
Onigiri Project
As part of our community engagement activities, we take part in a project that provides onigiri rice balls to children from households facing financial hardship, including single-parent families. Volunteers prepare nearly 200 onigiri rice balls, which are donated to Manbo Children’s Cafeteria.
Home | Manbo Children’s Cafeteria
We will continue to support our communities through volunteering and community investment activities.
Supporting Communities in response to the Covid-19 Spread: Covid-19 Global Charitable Fund
In April 2020, Standard Chartered PLC “the Group” announced the launch of US$50 million global fund (“Covid-19 Global Charitable Fund”) providing assistance to those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Group provides in two phases – both short-term relief, and longer-term assistance for communities across its 52 markets. In Japan, Standard Chartered Bank Tokyo Branch provided total JPY10 million of funding for immediate relief from the impact of Covid -19 to Ashinaga Foundation and the Nippon Foundation.
Please visit here for more detail about our Covid-19 Global Charitable Fund.