ImpactAlpha, May 15 – Some sectors of green finance are surging. For instance, the green bond market, which reached $155 billion last year and could hit $300 billion this year. Much of that lending targets global corporations and large-scale green infrastructure initiatives. Lloyd’s Banking Group is launching a new plan to offer loans at discounted interest rates to companies of all sizes looking to invest in cutting their environmental impact and boosting their own energy and water efficiency. The Clean Growth Fund should help expand the type of companies that can access green funding.
- Billions… The £2 billion ($2.7 billion) finance plan comes on top of Lloyds 2016 £1 billion Green Lending Initiative.
- Public facing… Lloyds is partnering with the Institute for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge to train 300 workers to help clients transition to low carbon investments.
- Lending ambitions… The Clean Growth Fund will be available to small and medium sized business in the coming weeks. It has been available to global corporate, mid-market and financial institution clients since last month.
Earlier this year, Barclay’s launched a green working capital and trade finance product for amounts starting at £250,000 ($340,000). While these products aim to incentivize businesses of all sizes to reduce their carbon footprints, Lloyds, Barclays and most of their large bank peers have a long way to go in becoming climate-forward institutions overall.
— Additional reporting by Jessica Pothering
