The 2023 Award program, sponsored by the Technical Assistance Facility ^[1] of the Global Climate Partnership Fund (GCPF), aimed to empower investees to develop innovative climate finance solutions and foster investable climate mitigation projects tailored to their respective markets.

Beside the financial prize, the 2023 Award program sought to bring many additional benefits including opportunities for capacity building. Webinars, online learning resources, 1-1 coaching support, and training were provided to stimulate creative thinking and nurture the development of innovative ideas to advance climate finance.

Judith Brandsma, Chairperson of the jury said “It was a pleasure serving as Chairperson on the jury this year. My fellow colleagues and I were pleased to share the excitement of the proposal and video reviews. All 14 applications were well received with this year’s winner presenting a very innovative proposal to develop a financing scheme with significant impact potential to advance not only climate change mitigation efforts, but also the livelihoods of farmers in Bangladesh. MTB’s proposal was future-looking and well-structured with an executable plan, including a detailed budget and action plan. As a bonus, the pitch was well executed, enthusiastic and convincing. We congratulate MTB for its submission, and we cannot wait to receive updates from the implementation phase.”

The Bank’s Managing Director & CEO, Syed Mahbubur Rahman told us more about their motivation to participate in this year’s award: “Our goal is to emerge as the most reliable financing partner for innovative green solutions. To do so, we continue to strive to develop new and innovative solutions that can help us address burning socio-economic issues. Our idea has great potential to transform the EV industry by reducing transportation costs and the dependency on fuel.

It will also create inclusive financing opportunities for root level farmers and introduce modern farming techniques that will help reduce CO2 emissions and energy usage. Winning this award provides us with the financing to quickly put our plan into action and work with our external stakeholders to achieve success.”

MTB will receive USD 50,000 to implement their award-winning climate finance concept. Deputy Managing Director & Chief Business Officer, Md. Khalid Mahmood Khan along with his team shared their vision with us: “This prize will help us to address some of the most pressing challenges that continue to affect small farmers in Bangladesh, such as rising food prices, low bargaining power of farmers, and environmental vulnerability. We are thankful to GCPF and the Technical Assistance Facility for this opportunity and cannot wait to share the good news with our internal team members who worked hard on the concept, but most importantly, our external stakeholders who stand to benefit the most from this project.”

The power of a supportive environment

Costa Rica is really committed to decarbonizing the economy. The government has been working on a program associated with ten different pillars of work, one being electric vehicles and electric mobility. That’s why we decided to start a program to actually help the government, our clients and the bank achieve that goal. And when the regulation is right next to you, it’s easier to succeed.

Costa Rica is really well-known for caring about the environment. The reason we have tourism from so many countries is because people want to get in touch with nature. Almost 90% of the electricity we generate comes from renewables, especially hydropower and windmills, so that really makes a statement about what Costa Rica is all about.

Leading by example

At the bank, we’re very passionate about sustainability. It resonates throughout the company, – from the sustainability manager to the CEO and owners. When so many people are involved, encouraging you and your clients to do something that is good business, I’m pretty sure you’re going to make a change. With our ‘Join the change’ campaign, we want all our clients to join us on this adventure.

Sometimes, you need to convince people of the technology by going there with the company owners to explain that this is real, it really works and it’s profitable – you’re going to make money from it. So, we’re promoting savings instead of just promoting loans, which for people is more understandable.

Also, when you promote something and do it yourself, that’s another statement you are making to the market. I think Promerica really lives sustainability from the inside. We’ve installed solar panels in our branches, we have charging stations for electric vehicles, we’re working on having LED lighting for all our buildings – and to certify those buildings through LEED and EDGE to have efficient water treatment processes.

Recognition and responsibility

Winning the Global Climate Partnership Award is actually a challenge. Right after you get it, you almost think your work is done – but that’s not true. You have to continue evolving, and you have to innovate. I told the GCPF that this is the beginning of something bigger.

Electric mobility is growing fast, not just in Costa Rica but around the world. At home, projections for the import of electric cars are good, and our goal is to finance most of them. We’re trying to create alliances with the dealers so they will come to the bank with salespeople to understand our models as well as the other green technologies we finance.

Of course, you have to work really hard. You always have other banks trying to reach out to clients with better interest rates, so you really must differentiate yourself from other banks. That’s why we chose the slogan ‘Join the change’ because we want them to work with us on committing to sustainability. We are a founding signatory of the Principles of Responsible Banking and also signed the Net-Zero Banking Alliance. Right now, we are working on how to ‘net zero’ our portfolio of loans.

We are really thankful to the GCPF for this opportunity. Their technical assistance has helped us take steps to develop a clear strategy based on our net-zero commitments. Although there are many challenges, part of this award, and perhaps part of why we won this award, is because we want to continue to help drive the green transition in Costa Rica.

The 2020/21 Award evaluated innovation topics focused on original solutions in enabling robust carbon accounting; fintech applications for scaling green lending; innovative awareness raising or marketing measures to promote green technologies; new approaches to mainstream E&S risk management; and new green products or industry collaboration.

“I AM PERSONALLY JOYFUL THAT WHEN I DO THE FIELD VISITS WITH CLIENTS AND HEAR THE WORDS: “THANK YOU LOLC FOR INTRODUCING THE THREE-WHEELER. I CAN EARN MORE, I CAN SAVE COST ON FUEL, AND I AM SAFER COMPARED TO MOTOR OR TRADITIONAL THREE-WHEELER.”

Sok Voeun the CEO of LOLC (Cambodia)

THE FIRST LPG THREE-WHEELER TUK TUKS TO BE BROUGHT INTO THE CAMBODIAN MARKET.

“Thank you LOLC for introducing the three-wheeler. I can earn more, I can save cost on fuel, and I am safer compared to motor or traditional three-wheeler.”

LOLC put forward critical arguments that helped make the product a success. This meant making loans to 10,800 clients for USD 38m, which reduced CO2 and other pollutants by at least 24 percent. The ultimate driver for crowning LOLC Cambodia as the winner of the GCPF Award was the extraordinary efforts made to educate just under 2,000 loan officers and other staff on green lending and enabling thousands of loans necessary to implement the program. Furthermore, intelligent use of social media drove awareness and set green lending as a priority for the organization.

Launched in 2018, the Global Climate Partnership Award recognizes outstanding efforts to develop an energy-efficient and/or renewable energy lending portfolio in a series of categories. The evaluation criteria aim to measure a financial institution’s efforts to deliver incremental improvements in this area and to scale up an institution’s green lending portfolio.

The award evaluates entries in three categories:

• Capacities and Skills to Implement Green Lending Institutional Capacities,
• Infrastructure, Strategies and Processes
• Project and Green Lending Product Range.

For the 2019 Global Climate Partnership Award, nine GCPF partner banks from eight countries presented entries.

The Winner: PABC!

Pan Asia Banking Corporation’s (PABC) award entry included details of its Hybrid Leasing, Solar Loans, Drip Irrigation loans, Mini hydro projects, Green debt securitisation and ‘The future is Green Sri Lanka’ event, which promoted green lending.

“GREEN LENDING IS A SECTOR OF IMMENSE IMPORTANCE THAT SUPPORTS THE GROWTH IN SRI LANKA IN A SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE MANNER.”

Nimal Tillekeratne, Director/CEO of PABC

Commenting on the accolade, Nimal Tillekeratne, Director/CEO of PABC, said: “We are proud to be the first bank in Sri Lanka to be recognised by the Global Climate Partnership Awards on an international platform, which invites partnering financial institutions to showcase how they have incrementally advanced their green lending efforts.”

“To be selected from amongst strong contenders for the award reaffirms our sustainability strategy which is directed towards green financing solutions whilst simultaneously making efforts both large and small to lower greenhouse gas emissions and to green our footprint,” he went on to add.

AN EXPERT JURY

The award jury of five members can draw on extensive field experience in the successful implementation of green lending as well as in structuring and developing green lending markets. The jury’s expertise substantiates the rigorous award process. The jury members guarantee a transparent process and the sound evaluation of all applications.

“PAN ASIA BANK HAS SUCCESSFULLY PIONEERED GREEN LENDING IN SRI LANKA AND CREATING PUBLIC AWARENESS FOR THE TOPIC.”

Luke Franson, Head of Green Lending, GCPF

Speaking on behalf of the jury, Luke Franson, Head of Green Lending at GCPF, explained: “When evaluating the entries, we ensured to view them from distinct angles: One judge evaluated the efforts with regard to the fund’s strategic objective; an investor judged the submissions from the perspective of shareholder expectations; and a jury member who had been a green lending officer in a previous position, brought insights on practical challenges that institutions encounter when promoting green lending.”

A GREEN LENDING PIONEER

Working in close cooperation with the Global Climate Partnership Fund since 2013, Pan Asia Bank was an early pioneer of introducing green lending in Sri Lanka and remains firmly committed to green financing and sustainability, both within and outside the bank’s operations.

“Green lending is a sector of immense importance that supports the growth in Sri Lanka in a socially responsible manner. Our efforts on development of processes and policies such as Social and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) policy, appointment of green champions and investments made in our people by providing training on green lending with the support of GCPF technical assistance facility were also reasons for this coveted award,” explained Naleen Edirisinghe, Pan Asia Bank Branch Credit DGM.

CREATING SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC BENEFITS

Pan Asia Bank is confident that this funding will create a perfect opportunity to generate long term sustainable economic benefits to uplift the living standards of people by creating cost-efficient energy solutions for businesses and employment, while also preserving the environment by promoting renewable energy.

In addition to contributing towards limiting global warming, these initiatives will also result in creating strategic economic benefits to the country as development of renewable energy sources reduce Sri Lanka’s dependency on imported oil.