Pitching clean technologies to Financial Institutions (FIs) has become relatively easier and more contextualised with the global narrative around Climate Change mitigation and adaptation. However, once they say ‘I do’, the ‘how’ is not always straightforward.
FIs are embracing the challenge of attracting the energy deficit consumer market, enabling access to finance for both technology providers and end-users. Strengthening their capacity to achieve their green objectives requires training the staff, consumer behavior studies and operational business models that reduce risk and help launch loans with favorable terms. The selection of an appropriate technology partner, distribution channel and post sales services are crucial to enable successful deployment of technology and a successful recovery of the loan from customers.
Technical Assistance is becoming an increasingly popular component of Results Based Funding (RBF). This model not only mitigates risks, but opens channels to measure the true impact of finance, also from a social and environmental perspective. This could be a tangible way to attract private funds as well. This is headed in the right direction, since public funds from national governments across the world are a good start, but will remain inadequate for global needs in the long term.