Emerging Market Microfinance Institutions have received outsized interest from Impact Investors with a Gender Lens or a focus on Financial Inclusion. However, Impact Investors with a Climate Finance lens struggle to place investments in microfinance institutions, especially those operating with a group-guarantee or Grameen-style lending model. Climate financing is easier to place in mid-sized banks that have a better defined climate portfolio in small businesses, electric vehicles, or in project finance.
How can impact investors place climate capital with microfinance institutions serving low-income individuals? What can microfinance institutions do to demonstrate their “green” bona fides? This workshop will bring together investors and managers from microfinance institutions to explore the tension between requiring loans to be spent to purchase “green” assets and allowing borrowers to spend loan proceeds on whatever they see fit.
