Vortrag
Incentives of Commercial Banks to Finance Energy Efficiency

Anne Schopp


29th Annual Congress of the European Economic Association : EEA 2014
Toulouse, Frankreich, 25.08.2014 - 29.08.2014




Abstract:
This paper investigates the incentives of commercial banks for providing energy efficiency lending. Interviews were conducted with banks to model their decision making related to energy efficiency. The modelling shows the trade-off banks face between initial transaction cost and benefits from portfolio diversification. According to these findings, two aspects are important to upscale energy efficiency lending: first, the requirement for banks to monetise energy savings to account for the benefit of low risk in the lending portfolio and, second, the need for energy efficiency programmes to reach a certain scale so that energy efficiency lending pays off.

Abstract

This paper investigates the incentives of commercial banks for providing energy efficiency lending. Interviews were conducted with banks to model their decision making related to energy efficiency. The modelling shows the trade-off banks face between initial transaction cost and benefits from portfolio diversification. According to these findings, two aspects are important to upscale energy efficiency lending: first, the requirement for banks to monetise energy savings to account for the benefit of low risk in the lending portfolio and, second, the need for energy efficiency programmes to reach a certain scale so that energy efficiency lending pays off.



Keywords: Commercial banks, Energy efficiency lending, Portfolio diversification, Transaction cost
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