With global population projected to grow to some 9.7 billion people in 2050, the world faces a major challenge: how will we feed all those people?

ING is active in the global food industry. We provide financing to the entire food chain, ranging from producers and traders to transport companies and those who handle and process food products. We expect our customers in the food chain to obey the law and regulations, including those around housing and animal welfare.



Furthermore clients are expected to strive for best practice with respect to animal welfare. ING encourages clients in the animal husbandry sector to manage their animals in line with the “Five Freedoms”, and to seek continuous improvement related to transport and stewardship, for example.



ING’s animal welfare policy also has an “exclusion” list of what we won’t finance, which includes, for example: anything where animals must fight for entertainment, but also animal trades involving endangered species etc.



The policy applies to companies managing farming activities (cattle, poultry, pigs, etc.) and fish hatcheries; those that trade or use endangered animals; animals in entertainment (zoos, circuses, household pet industry); and animals used in laboratory settings to advance human health.

ING was recognised with a Compassionate Business Award by PETA in February 2016 for refraining from financing “tests on animals for cosmetics, the use of endangered species for commercial purposes, experiments on nonhuman primates or endangered species, bullfights or any type of animal fights for entertainment, fur farms, or the trade and manufacture of fur products, among other practices.”