Mainstreaming Environmental Finance into Financial Markets – Relevance, Potential and Obstacles

Mainstreaming environmental finance widens the utilisation of existing instruments and extends them to environmentally beneficial activities. The objective is to serve clients in ways that make environmental finance a normal set of retail products. The sheer number of households and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) give providers the weight and opportunity to address environmental concerns. Financial institutions have a key role in environmental finance in ways that ensure sustainable development (Millennium Development Goal 7).