Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) is looking to partner with global banks, institutional investors and multilateral institutions to secure cheaper long-term funding for renewable energy projects in India. As per Reuters inputs, IREDA Executive Director Tusarkanta Parida said the state-run renewable energy lender is exploring global partnerships to raise green finance at more competitive rates as India accelerates its clean energy expansion. Renewable energy developers in India currently face borrowing costs of around 11-12 per cent, compared with financing costs of about 2-3 per cent in developed markets. Lower-cost and longer-tenure financing could help ease funding pressures for domestic projects. IREDA did not identify the institutions involved in the proposed partnerships. India needs $220 billion for renewable energy, transmission. India is estimated to require about $220 billion of investment over the next three years in renewable energy and associated transmission infrastructure as it works towards its target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel power capacity by 2030. The country attracted about $64 billion in private investment into clean energy between 2024 and 2026, including $6.2 billion in foreign investment. Financing costs are not the only challenge facing renewable energy developers. The sector is also dealing with land acquisition hurdles...

New research from Sage and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) published ahead of COP31 analysed the funding gap facing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the globe. A $1.1trn investment gap in green technology persists, and SMEs are struggling to secure funding. Global climate finance exceeded $2trn in 2024, but the new report found that SMEs face barriers to accessing funding. The research found that 56% of SMEs lack financial plans to invest in renewables and energy efficiency measures, despite 71% believing that environmental action will help lower costs. Applications to access green finance have climbed by more than 65% since 2023, the research notes, but the percentage of SMEs receiving funding hasn’t changed. In fact, 80% of SMEs that explored green finance applications chose not to apply, citing complicated processes and duplicated requests for ESG information. Additionally, banks still struggle to justify the costs of assessing smaller loans. In response, the research calls for the introduction of a singular, streamlined standard for reporting energy use, emissions, and other ESG factors that would be accepted by banks. SMEs are a vital part of economies and are also a large source of emissions. In the EU, SMEs account for more...

The COP17 conference has concluded, with Armeconombank actively participating by presenting banking solutions geared toward sustainable development, accompanied by strong engagement from the expert community and business leaders. At the Armeconombank booth located in the Green Zone, attendees explored environmental financing instruments designed to turn forward-looking ideas into actionable steps. "Viewing environmental issues as real economic factors, Armeconombank decided to take an active part in the COP17 conference. Our primary goal is to unite the efforts of all key stakeholders to make green finance more accessible to business entities. Armeconombank makes significant contributions toward promoting a green economy both through international fund support and its own resources. Large-scale events like this are crucial for raising awareness and popularizing green finance," noted Anna Yeghoyan, Head of the Environmental and Social Risk Management Department at Armeconombank. Sustainable Development: From Vision to Measurable Impact Armeconombank continues to fund initiatives aimed at climate change mitigation—ranging from renewable energy generation to enhancing energy efficiency and resource optimization. The renewable energy segment of the Bank’s active green portfolio includes installed solar power plants with an aggregate capacity of approximately 121,000 kW (121 MW), carrying an annual generation potential of roughly 194 GWh of clean electricity. These...

Open for business. After more than two and a half years running in the margins, the Green Finance Community Hub is now open for business full time. Our founding director, Ciara Shannon, is stepping ...

Green finance is any structured financial activity that’s been created to ensure a better environmental outcome. The value of green bonds traded could soon hit $2.36 trillion. The European Central Bank is getting heavily involved in green finance. The top three green bond issuers are the US, China and France. The World Economic Forum’s Green Horizon Summit focuses on how green finance can help in the recovery from COVID-19. Green finance is blossoming. Globally, the green bond market could be worth $2.36 trillion by 2023. It is regarded as a way of meeting the needs of environmentalism and capitalism simultaneously – but what is green finance and how does it work? At its simplest, green finance is any structured financial activity – a product or service – that’s been created to ensure a better environmental outcome. It includes an array of loans, debt mechanisms and investments that are used to encourage the development of green projects or minimize the impact on the climate of more regular projects. Or a combination of both. Funding sustainable development For the United Nations, green financing plays an important role in delivering several of its Sustainable Development Goals. Its Environment team is already working with...

Further cementing the UK’s position as a global climate leader, the UK Government has announced its landmark Green Finance Strategy setting out plans to increase investment in sustainable projects and infrastructure. The Strategy will ensure financial risks and opportunities from climate change are integrated into mainstream financial decision making and increase availability of finance to make the most of this economic opportunity, one which brings together the UK’s low carbon and environmental expertise and world leading financial services sector. Making the announcement at the third Green Finance Summit in London yesterday, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister John Glen argued that financial services will have a bigger role to play than any other sector in tackling climate change. Last week the UK also became the first country in the G7 to legislate to move to net zero emissions by 2050. The UK has shown that going green can be a win-win, reducing emissions by 42% while growing the economy by 72%, making the country the strongest performer in the G7. The UK Government has further committed to spend at least £5.8 billion on International Climate Finance, encouraging other nations to act on climate collaboratively. This builds on...

Authors: Raúl C. Rosales (lead author), Priya Bellino, Marwa Elnahass, Harald L. Heubaum, Philip Lim, Paul Lemaistre, Kelly Siman, Sofie Sjögersten. This report is the independent opinion of the authors. Co-authors: Centre for Sustainable Finance, SOAS, University of London; Business School, Newcastle University; The University of Nottingham; National University of Singapore, Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions; ARSARI Group; RHT Green Industry contributors: Carbon TradeXchange; AXA Investment Managers; AirCarbon Exchange; Sylvera; ClimateSeed; Soil Capital Carbon; BNP Paribas About this paper This report is part of an overarching project developed in collaboration with the COP26 Universities Network and the British High Commission. The COP26 Universities Network is a growing group of over 80 UK-based universities working together to help deliver an ambitious outcome at COP26 and beyond. In this first ever collaboration of its kind, the network has brought together researchers and academics from the UK and Singapore to publish a series of four reports aimed at supporting policy development and the UK’s international COP26 objectives in Singapore and across Southeast Asia. The reports focus on the following areas: 1) energy transition 2) nature-based solutions 3) green finance 4) adaptation and resilience The bite-size and highly condensed papers provide a high-level understanding...

China’s embrace of green finance has been one of the key factors driving sustainability considerations to the top of the global financial policy agenda. In this post for the Sustainable Finance Leadership Series, Professor Wang Yao takes stock of the progress made since 2016 and identifies the steps that still need to be taken to bring finance in line with the country’s ambitions to build an ‘ecological civilisation’. In 2012, the Chinese government approved a far-reaching policy goal of building an ‘ecological civilization’. This goal is driven partly by the urgent need to clean up the consequences of rapid industrialisation, as well as by the desire to build a more harmonious growth model. Realising this ambition requires green finance – the full range of financial services that support the environmental transformation of the economy and the efficient use of resources. The scale of capital required is immense: an estimated RMB 3–4 trillion (US$ 433–577 billion) each year in green investments from 2015 to 2020, according to research by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. The Guidelines for establishing the green financial system, a comprehensive plan to channel this investment,...

A new report from Credible Taxonomy Canada warns that labelling gas power as green or transition-aligned would divert investment away from the renewables and grid upgrades needed for a net-zero electricity system. Toronto | Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat – A new report from a coalition of climate experts argues that Canada’s sustainable finance taxonomy should exclude natural gas from its electricity sector guidance. The paper, Beyond Gas: Financing a Net-Zero Electricity Grid with a Paris-Aligned Taxonomy, finds that gas-powered electricity, even when paired with carbon capture and storage (CCS), is too emissions intensive to credibly meet the threshold of a Paris-aligned investment. Global expert bodies are clear that a rapid reduction in the use of oil and gas, alongside a massive scale-up of renewable energy, is required to achieve the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming. Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 means shifting away from the use of natural gas in the electricity sector. The report arrives as the Taxonomy and Transition Planning Council is developing guidance for what counts as a climate-aligned investment in the electricity sector. The...

As part of its participation in the COP17 conference, Armeconombank hosted a panel discussion titled "Green Finance for Nature: From Commitment to Action." The initiative aimed to address -from the perspectives of the government, the business sector, international institutions, and the expert community - the crucial role played by the financial system in transforming ideas into tangible and sustainable impact. Sustainable Development: A Cornerstone of Business Strategy Opening the panel discussion, Anna Yeghoyan, Head of the Environmental and Social Risk Management Department at Armeconombank, emphasized that for the Bank, sustainable development and green finance are not merely social responsibility, but a core pillar of its business strategy: "For years, we have actively financed energy efficiency, renewable energy, and the 'green' modernization of SMEs, driven by the conviction that the banking sector must be more than just a provider of capital - it must serve as a bridge connecting state policy, international green flows, technological innovation, and the real economy." Mitigating Environmental Risks: The Key to Project Success Addressing the role of green finance in overall economic development, panel speaker Ira Panosyan, Head of the Agricultural Project Design Department at the Ministry of Economy of Armenia, highlighted that reducing environmental risks...

Green financing isn’t a trend Ghanaian Businesses can afford to watch from the sidelines. Climate change has stopped being a problem for tomorrow. For many businesses today, its impact is already visible on the balance sheet; rising energy costs, disrupted supply chains, flood-related logistics delays, and productivity challenges linked to unreliable power supply. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which constitute approximately 92% of registered businesses in Ghana and contribute close to 70% of the country’s GDP, these are not abstract environmental concerns. They are real and growing operational costs that erode margins, affect competitiveness, and make business predictability and planning increasingly difficult. For years, sustainability was treated as something only large corporates needed to think about; at best ,a line in an annual report or a box to tick. That narrative is changing. Increasingly, how a business manages energy, water and waste determine whether it can win contracts, access financing (and at what cost) and compete for market share. The ground has shifted under Ghana’s financial sector. The subject of sustainability is no longer a distant, overseas conversation. Ghana’s own regulatory architecture has moved quickly in the last two years: The Bank of Ghana’s Sustainable Banking Principles, first developed...

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The signing ceremony on Sept. 25 was attended by Hanna Pors, Deputy Consul General of the Netherlands in Ho Chi Minh City, along with senior representatives of Nam A Bank and FMO. The agreement further reinforces Nam A Bank's reputation, international- standard governance capabilities and commitment to sustainable development. Under the agreement, Nam A Bank will prioritize green projects while expanding lending to micro enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The five-year loan will support agriculture, agricultural value chains and rural development, as well as farmers and businesses owned or led by women and young people. The financing is also intended to improve access to longer-term funding for businesses facing financing constraints and support companies seeking to reduce emissions, respond to climate change and adopt more sustainable production models. Vo Hoang Hai, Deputy CEO of Nam A Bank, said the financing would allow the bank to expand green lending and the social impact of its credit activities. "The financing from FMO will be directed toward customer groups that still have considerable unmet financing needs, allowing the bank to expand its social impact alongside its green growth objectives," Hai said. "It is also the result of years of building credibility...

Bank of China is actively developing green finance in BRICS countries, supporting Chinese companies expanding overseas and promoting the internationalization of the renminbi, also known as the yuan. BOC, one of China's largest State-owned commercial lenders, has maintained a strong local presence and continuously enhanced its financial services in Brazil, providing sustained momentum for closer economic, trade and investment ties between the two countries. As Chinese companies accelerate their global expansion and strengthen their international operations, BOC provides comprehensive financial services to support their entry into the Brazilian market and improve the quality of their overseas operations through credit support, business matchmaking and other means. The bank has provided nearly 7 billion yuan ($1.04 billion) in credit lines to support agricultural companies such as Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture Co, COFCO and China Brasil Tabacos in expanding their operations in Brazil. It has also issued letters of financing intent, performance bonds and bid bonds totaling about 8.6 billion yuan for a number of projects, including the 800 kilovolt ultra-high-voltage direct-current electricity transmission project in northeastern Brazil, which is solely invested, built and operated by the Brazilian subsidiary of State Grid Corp of China, and the Salvador-Itaparica Bridge, which is currently being...

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The green finance market trend forecasting model proposed in this paper, named TranGRU, is based on a hybrid architecture combining Transformer and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU). Its purpose is to fully exploit the temporal dependencies and multimodal characteristics inherent in green finance data. Rather than introducing a fundamentally new backbone, the model is designed as a problem-oriented adaptation of existing sequence modeling components to the green finance domain, where policy evolution, market volatility, and heterogeneous information sources interact over time. The overall structure of the model is illustrated in Fig. 1. The architecture consists of several sequential modules, each serving a distinct function and working together to generate accurate forecasts of future market trends. The core idea is to combine the Transformer’s ability to capture global dependencies with the GRU’s strength in modeling short-term fluctuations, thereby addressing the complexity and volatility of the green finance market. The input to the model consists of multimodal data, including financial time series, environmental indicators, and policy-related text information. Before entering the network, all data undergo preprocessing and feature extraction. The financial series are normalized to a common scale, while environmental and policy data are converted into numerical time-series features with dimensions aligned to...

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FINANCING the energy transition to a low-carbon, nature-positive economy will require companies to do more than demonstrate their environmental credentials. In a panel discussion titled “Financing the Transition to a Low Carbon and Nature-Positive Future” at the Asia ESG Summit organised by Star Media Group, panellists examined how businesses can turn sustainability ambitions into credible, investable and bankable propositions. According to City Developments Limited (CDL) chief sustainability officer Esther An, the key to unlocking the potential of green finance is to speak the language of financiers and investors – one centred on profitability, risk management and long-term value creation. “When you talk about business, investors will always look at the bottom line. “If you want to prove that sustainability is not a cost, you have to find a way to show that ESG performance is bankable, investable and brings returns to the business with quantifiable data.” She said chief sustainability officers must show investors and bankers how past ESG performance, current risks and future targets translate into measurable financial value. She said that building a business case for sustainability is particularly important. At CDL, this means seeking sustainable solutions that also create value for its developments. She pointed to the...

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This study provides a bibliometric analysis of green finance and green economy in relation to Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) for the time span 2015–2024, using a combined bibliometric and Theory-Context-Characteristics-Methodology (TCCM) framework. The results show a rapid increase in studies, especially after 2020, consistent with a global rise in attention to clean energy transitions. The output of researchers’ work and its citation impact are highly concentrated in a few nations, mainly China, with significant regional inequities, especially in Africa and Latin America. The report indicates a strong focus on sustainable finance tools, renewable energy solutions, and carbon-reduction measures. However, the equity-oriented features of SDG 7, such as gender inclusion, decentralized energy systems, and energy access for marginalized populations, are not sufficiently integrated theoretically or empirically into the research. Dominant theoretical perspectives privilege environmental efficiency at the cost of social justice, suggesting a structural disconnection between research focus and the inclusive mandate of SDG 7. Drawing on these results, the study makes three overarching policy recommendations: (i) the formulation of tiered, context-specific green finance taxonomies with SDG 7 covenants embedded in green bond structures, supported by blended finance instruments to de-risk investment in energy-deficient markets; (ii) the enhancement of...

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