ING Capital appointed Anne van Rielas head of Sustainable Finance Americas and Melisa Simic, vice president Sustainable Finance, Environmental and Social Responsibility advisory. The newly created roles, based in New York, expand ING’s global sustainable finance team into the Americas to provide responsible financial services solutions and strategies to clients.

As head of sustainable finance Americas, van Rielas will work with ING’s clients to facilitate and finance the implementation of sustainable strategies. She was previously a director in the metals and mining sector group. She will report to Bill James, head of lending Americas region and functionally to Leonie Schreve, global head of sustainable finance. Van Rielas has a strong track record in sustainable finance at ING. Over the past 10 years she has worked on project finance, private equity and corporate finance projects involving energy efficiency, climate change and water scarcity in North and South America. Previously she worked at BBVA in the structured finance North America team and as investment officer for FMO Bank.

Simic will support ING’s clients to take steps towards making transactions meet international environmental and social risk standards and advise on sustainability criteria. Simic joined from Ramboll Environ and has 10 years of experience in environmental and social impact assessment on the ground in New York and São Paulo. Her experience includes projects across the energy, food and agriculture, metals and mining, oil and gas and infrastructure sectors.

“With the addition of Anne and Melisa we  can now support our global clients wherever businesses are considering sustainability demands, energy transition and the evolution of circular economy practices,” said Leonie Schreve, global head of sustainable finance. “These issues increasingly drive opportunities no matter their sector or region, and we will be there to provide the best solutions as we build a better planet together.”

ING’s sustainable finance team is dedicated to providing global clients with sustainable business strategies and solutions to achieve their sustainable goals. The team brings together sustainability experts and wholesale banking in-depth knowledge to identify sustainable clients and opportunities. ING reviews every project financing and client to ensure they meet environmental and social risk policies and standards.