A group of six green banks and two nonprofits has established a Green Bank Network to speed a shift to clean energy by mobilizing private investment in renewables and energy efficiency.
The founding partners of the initiative are the UK Green Investment Bank, Connecticut Green Bank, NY Green Bank, Green Fund in Japan, Malaysian Green Technology Corp. and Clean Energy Finance Corp. (CEFC) in Australia. The network plans to expand rapidly.
The banks have appointed the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Coalition for Green Capital to spearhead the creation of the network. ClimateWorks Foundation has agreed to provide seed funding.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will facilitate the sharing of experience between green banks and countries interested in creating them.
The network will increase the global impact of green banks by enabling them to collaborate more effectively, share and leverage individual bank experiences, publicize achievements, and grow the ranks of green banks worldwide.
Financing initiatives by the Australian CEFC are delivering least-cost emissions reductions – contributing to economic resilience and competitiveness. The Connecticut Green Bank has nearly quadrupled annual clean energy investment and deployment in that state in three years. NY Green Bank, the largest green bank in the U.S. and one of the newer green banks, is providing financing solutions to advance solar, wind and residential energy efficiency.
"Meeting commitments coming out of Paris will require a profound transformation in global energy investment," comments Shelley Poticha, director of urban solutions at NRDC. "The Green Bank Network is a critical tool in this process, and NRDC is excited to help facilitate the global scale-up of green banking."
