South Korea’s KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo vowed to cooperate with ASEAN banks in achieving carbon neutrality at a leadership meeting of the UN-convened Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the firm said Tuesday.

“As a representative of Asia in this meeting, KB will focus on spreading and supporting net-zero initiatives in ASEAN nations where we have a vast network of businesses,” Yoon said at the NZBA Steering Group Principals Meeting held via video conference on Monday.

NZBA is a UN-convened alliance of global banks committed to aligning their portfolios with net-zero emissions by 2050.

A total of 12 CEOs and chairmen of global banks across five continents attended the meeting held late Monday to discuss the progress of NZBA and set next year’s plans against climate change, according to KB. Morgan Stanley’s Chief Sustainability Officer Audrey Choi and La Banque Postale CEO Philippe Heim were among those who participated in the meeting.

Alongside its plans to help reduce carbon emissions in ASEAN nations, it also said it is working toward disclosing clients’ carbon emissions data, boosting support for education and consulting for adoption of green values across different sectors and bolstering capital expenditures to achieve carbon neutrality.

KB has a vast ASEAN network, operating 21 subsidiaries, branches and offices across the association of Southeast Asian nations.

Its flagship lender KB Kookmin Bank has two Cambodian subsidiaries: Kookmin Bank Cambodia and Prasac Microfinance Institution. The commercial bank has a subsidiary in Indonesia -- PT Bank KB Bukopin -- and two subsidiaries and a representative office in Myanmar. It also owns two branches in Vietnam. 

The banking giant‘s brokerage unit KB Securities has two subsidiaries in Vietnam, while its insurer KB Insurance has a subsidiary in Indonesia and two offices in Vietnam. Its credit card issuer KB Kookmin Card has subsidiaries in Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia and an office in Myanmar. KB Asset Management operates a subsidiary in Singapore and an office in Vietnam, while KB Capital has subsidiaries in Indonesia and Laos. 

KB Financial’s net-zero goals, dubbed “KB net zero star,” focuses on reducing its portfolio’s carbon emissions by 33.3 percent by 2030, 61 percent by 2040 and ultimately achieve neutrality by 2050. It plans to give loan benefits in terms of line of credits and interest rates for corporates that can prove their carbon offsetting plans.

KB is currently the nation’s No.1 banking group by total assets, reporting 650.5 trillion won ($551.5 billion) as of the end of September. KB’s net profit in the January-September period gained 31.1 percent on-year to 3.7 trillion won.