Islamic finance goes green!!

IFAAS launches 'Oxygen' - its ground-breaking CSR programme, improving the environment through Islamic finance.

30^th June 2015

IFAAS (Islamic Finance Advisory & Assurance Services - www.ifaas.com), the leading international consultancy dedicated to Islamic finance has today announced the launch of 'Oxygen', its CSR programme that aims at improving the environment through Islamic finance. Oxygen is the first CSR programme of its kind in the rapidly growing Islamic financial industry, taking it to new levels of 21^st century corporate social responsibility. The unique programme, complementing IFAAS's general CSR policies, features 2 major components:

Planting new trees on annual basis, dedicated individually to IFAAS clients; and

Creating new woodland for each project that IFAAS completes.

The programme is aimed at replacing the wood consumed by IFAAS in form of paper and locking up some of the carbon created while serving its clients worldwide. To this end, IFAAS is supporting the Woodland Trust who will be planting the trees at various native woodland sites across the UK.

Farrukh Raza, managing director, IFAAS, said "we are proud to launch Oxygen, a pioneering CSR programme within the Islamic financial industry. As a 21^st century professional consultancy, dedicated to Islamic finance, we believe that it is our absolute responsibility to ensure that the natural resources gifted to the mankind are preserved for our future generations. Islamic teachings require us to offset the impairment that we are inevitably causing to the environment through our business activities. With a growing number of our clients spread across 5 continents now, it is important to consider the environment and minimise our carbon footprint as our staff work on Islamic finance projects around the world."

IFAAS will be dedicating trees to its clients on an annual basis who will receive certificates issued by the Woodland Trust with the details of the woodland sites. IFAAS will also plant new trees for each project that will be undertaken by the company, through the Woodland Trust's Woodland Carbon scheme. The Woodland Trust will provide IFAAS with a certificate each year to confirm the amount of woodland created, and how much CO2 has been locked up.

"Oxygen is based on 'sustainability' of resources, a fundamental concept in Islam that prohibits even breaking a leaf from a plant without a real need", Raza continued. "There are strict guidelines in Islam regarding the sustainability and preservation of resources and in today's world, it is becoming increasingly imperative for everybody to think and act responsibly about environmental challenges. Thus Islamic finance has a direct link with the environment. Islamic financial industry is doing a lot in terms of CSR however not many of those initiatives are yet linked with environment. We are glad to be the pioneers in making Islamic finance work to improve the environment of Planet Earth and hope that more industry players will follow this route".

-Ends-

ABOUT IFAAS
IFAAS (Islamic Finance Advisory & Assurance Services) is an independent specialist consultancy with offices in Birmingham (UK), Paris (France) and Manama (Bahrain), providing professional advisory services to a wide range of financial institutions and industry stakeholders in the critical and complex area of Shariah compliance.

Founded in 2007, IFAAS is at the forefront of the dynamic Islamic Finance industry and has rapidly grown into a leading provider of a wide range of specialist and bespoke Shariah advisory services to some of the leading financial institutions and key stakeholders in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

IFAAS' principle services include Shariah compliance and audit, advisory on product development and operational implementation, marketing strategy for Shariah compliant financial institutions, products and services, PR & communications, market research and feasibility studies and providing professional training in Islamic finance.

Full details can be found at the website www.ifaas.com

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
IFAAS media team
E: media@ifaas.com
T: +44 8444 821941