Green Bank Network Events

Green Banks: Catalyzing an Equitable Transition, NYC Climate Week Event

19 September 2023
New York/Virtual, Climate Week NYC

The $27 Billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund has brought new attention to the role that green banks—local, specialized financial institutions with a green investment mandate—can play in scaling climate investments. To achieve deep decarbonization through an equitable transition, these investments will need to benefit traditionally underserved communities and leverage larger sums of private investment.

Join us to learn how the green bank model can help crowd in additional investment in underserved communities. Green bank members and practitioners will discuss how green banks can partner with communities, impact investors and other financial institutions to scale an equitable green transition as well as lessons learned from programs that targeted underinvested communities.

Event Recording

Speakers

Speakers include representatives from Connecticut Green Bank, DC Green Bank, Impact Assets, Inclusive Prosperity Capital, New York Green Bank, and Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank.

The African Green Banks Initiative: A Bottom-up Solution to the Lack of Climate Finance

23 May 2023
Barakaldo, Spain

The African Green Bank Initiative, launched at COP27 by the African Development Bank, is a unique Pan-African platform aiming at the creation of an ecosystem of Green Banks or Green Finance Facilities (GFFs) throughout Africa. The Initiative aims to increase climate finance mobilization, promote direct access and support African countries meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and SDGs. The Initiative relies on its bottom-up, catalytic spirit. It aims to assist national entities build their own capacities and structure a proprietary climate finance ecosystem to cover domestic needs. Contributors’ resources invested in those green facilities will be used strategically to catalyze private capital and accelerate climate investments throughout the continent.

The workshop will bring Green Banks practitioners and investors to inform how building a network of GFFs across Africa will efficiently tackle climate financing challenges.

Speakers

• Audrey-Cynthia Yamadjako – Principal Climate & Environment Finance Officer – African Development Bank
• Timothee Jaulin – Head of ESG Development & Advocacy, Special Operations – Amundi Asset Management
• Paul Pulickal Mathew – Technical Assistance Facility Coordinator – Climate Investment Funds
• Namrata Rastogi – Principal Advisor, Climate Policy – Econoler Canada Climate Action Africa
• Carolina Herrera, Manager Green finance and climate – Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Delivering High Integrity Climate Solutions: The Role of Green Banks

16 November 2022
The Climate Registry Pavilion, COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

Achieving the Paris targets will require deep decarbonization throughout all sectors of the economy, and trillions of dollars of investments in climate solutions. Unlocking the scale of finance needed will require purpose built green financial institutions that can help convene key stakeholders, curate viable pipelines of investable opportunities and mitigate certain risks for private investors, all tailored for local circumstances and needs. Green Banks are a successful model for effectively channeling public capital to leverage private capital to deliver real climate solutions and positive outcomes in communities in both developed and developing economies. This panel will hear from some of the leaders in building the green bank institutional framework to achieve our climate and capital mobilization objectives.

Speakers

• Richard Saines ONM, Managing Director, Pollination and TCR Board Member (Moderator)
• Hon. Principal Secretary, The National Treasury, Kenya, Dr. Chris Kiptoo, CBS – TBC
• Hon. Senator Henry Stern, California 27th Senate District (D)
• Audrey-Cynthia Yamadjako, Climate & Environmental Trust Funds Management, African Development Bank
• Craig Weise, Chief Executive, New Zealand Green Investment Bank

Green Banking at Scale: Green Banks Delivering Climate Action at the City, State, and National Level

20 September 2022
New York/Virtual, Climate Week NYC

• Event Summary
• Event Recording

Speakers explored the impact of the green bank model globally at the city, state, and national levels, and how green banks help advance both climate and equity goals. The event highlighted the potential role and impact of a U.S. national green bank under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. It showcased how existing green banks at the city and state levels successfully achieve climate and sustainable development targets by financing low-carbon, climate-resilient projects and spurring private financing markets that create new jobs.

Banking on Green: The Role of Green Banks and Development Finance Institutions in Mobilizing Private Investments into Climate Solutions

3 November 2021
Glasgow, Scotland/Virtual

This hybrid in-person/virtual side event was held at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).

To achieve deep decarbonization and a pathway to 1.5˚C, investment in new projects and technologies is essential. Public finance is critical yet insufficient, and to meet the challenge relatively small amounts of public investment must do a better job at mobilizing much larger sums of private investment. At the same time, we need innovative financial instruments and partnerships that promote country ownership for scaling up private investments.

Green Bank Design Summit 2021

21 – 24 June 2021
Virtual

Taking place from June 21-24, 2021, the Green Bank Design Summit was the second global convening of stakeholders vital to the establishment of national green banks and other dedicated green finance institutions and facilities. It created a forum for country representatives and experts to discuss green bank establishment issues, both shared and country-specific, through a series of workshops, clinics, and panels.

The Summit brought together over 350 participants from 54 countries to learn about, discuss, and share key insights about green banks and the role they play in a green recovery.

Green Banks for Country-Driven Climate Finance: Showcasing Country Ambition

11 December 2019
Madrid, Spain

During COP25 in Madrid, Spain, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Green Bank Design Platform (GBDP) will host an event on Green Banks. The event will showcase countries’ progress toward accelerating NDC implementation by crowding in low carbon, climate resilient investment through Green Banks and other dedicated green finance facilities. This event will highlight the progress of several countries in planning, establishing, and capitalizing national and subnational Green Banks for country-driven climate finance.

The event will also discuss how the Green Bank Design Platform can be an invaluable resource for countries at all stages of green bank development. The Platform will connect countries exploring green finance institutions with technical assistance providers suited to their particular needs, provide information on best practices, host regional and global workshops, and increase interest in and resources for Green Bank development.

The event is being organized by the Coalition for Green Capital, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Rocky Mountain Institute.

Green Bank Design Summit

18 – 19 March 2019
Paris, France

The Green Bank Design Summit will be a first-of-its-kind convening of stakeholders who are vital to the establishment of national green investment banks (GIBs) and other dedicated green finance institutions. It will launch country-driven, ongoing collaboration to accelerate GIBs in emerging markets.

The Summit will be a highly participatory, invitation-only meeting built around small, multi-stakeholder workshops for emerging markets to develop GIB action plans.

Sixth Annual Green Bank Congress

29 November 2018
Shanghai, China

The Green Bank Network hosted the Sixth Annual Green Bank Congress in Shanghai, China alongside the Bloomberg NEF Future of Energy APAC Summit. The event was hosted in partnership with the Center for Finance and Development, Tsinghua National Institute of Financial Research, Green Finance Committee (GFC) of the China Society for Finance and Banking, with support from Lujiazui Green Finance Development Committee and Shenzhen Green Finance Committee. The event included representation from leading Green Banks around the world, including speakers from Australia, Japan, Malaysia, China, US and more.

Emerging Trends in Green Banks at Better Buildings Summit 2018

23 August 2018
Cleveland, Ohio

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Better Buildings Summit has teamed up with Energy Exchange for a one-of-a-kind event in Cleveland, Ohio. The combined event will feature tailored content to help all attendees—including building owners, administrators, executives, manufacturers, state and local government leaders, and financing companies—get up to speed on the latest trends in energy efficiency finance and put those insights into practice.

The event will feature a panel on “Emerging Trends in Green Banks.” The panel will focus on Green Banks helping unlock clean energy investment across the U.S. and the world. This session will review current developments in Green Banks, including the recent trend toward county-level banks, city-level banks, and international collaboration around Green Banks.

The panel will include:

• Kerry O’Neill, Connecticut Green Bank
• Tom Deyo, Montgomery County Green Bank
• Alex Kragie, Coalition for Green Capital

Financing Clean Energy in Your City: An Introduction to Urban Green Banks

17 January 2018
Webinar

A growing number of U.S. cities are seeking to accelerate their transition to clean energy. They see this transition as a big opportunity—not only to help reverse climate disruption, but also to make their local economies more vibrant and their communities more equitable and resilient. But financing of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects remains a big barrier. A growing number of countries, states and communities across the U.S. and around the world are creating or contemplating green banks to help overcome this barrier.

The Connecticut Green Bank is regarded as one of the most successful examples to date. Since its inception in 2011, it has used $200 million in public funds to leverage over $1 billion in total investment in Connecticut’s clean energy and energy efficiency marketplace. While a handful of international cities—including London, Sydney, and Amsterdam—have established green banks, no urban-scale green banks exist yet in the U.S., but the potential is great.

Could your city be next? Could green banks, or something like them, help more U.S. cities meet their local climate and energy goals? Join us for this webinar to explore these and other related questions.

4th OECD Green Investment Financing Forum

24 – 25 October 2017
Paris, France

The Green Investment Financing Forum (GIFF) is held under the aegis of the OECD Centre on Green Finance and Investment.

Achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement and broader set of environmental objectives linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will require:

• Domestic ambition to rapidly and efficiently decarbonise and enhance resilience in all sectors
• Well-aligned policies across the whole of government
• Strong and consistent signaling and well-targeted policy interventions to engage and mobilise industry and private finance, combined with a conducive investment environment
• Increased global co-operation between state and non-state actors, including financial and technical support for developing countries
• Monitoring of progress in green investment and financing and of environmental outcomes

Policies need to be cost-effective and supported by robust, evidence-based analysis, and reflect an understanding of the perspectives and constraints of investors, who will be the engine of the transition to a green and sustainable economy.

The GIFF will feature speakers from Green Banks and will cover key opportunities and challenges for unlocking financing for green innovation and explore the role of institutions and interventions to de-risk and mobilise investment in green projects.

5th Annual Green Bank Congress: Taking Stock of Green Bank Success and Expanding Green Finance Around the World

18 September 2017
New York City

Implementing the commitments set out in the Paris agreement and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will require dedicated local capacity to drive investment and financial innovation in low carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure. This year’s Green Bank Congress, part of Climate Week NYC 2017, gave attendees from the private and public sector the opportunity to discuss how Green Banks are working to crowd in private capital, and how the Green Bank model can be adapted to emerging markets. Speakers and attendees included Green Bank practitioners, government officials charged with NDC implementation, development banks and private sector partners from around the world.

National Development Banks and Green Banks: Key Institutions for Mobilizing Finance

26 – 27 June 2017
Mexico City

The event featured speakers on clean energy finance, Green Banks, and national development banks including UK Green Investment Bank, Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Connecticut Green Bank, Green Tech Malaysia, Banobras, NAFIN, BNDES, OECD, ALIDE, Inter-American Development Bank and many others.

The objective of this event was to offer a space for discussion of the role of banks in the financing of the NDCs and the development of innovative instruments for the leverage of green investments in the region. The agenda and presentations from the event are accessible here.

NRDC and BNEF: Opportunities for Public and Private Finance to Accelerate Growth of the Electric Vehicle Market

15 June 2017
Webinar

Plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as a promising technology to quickly decarbonize transportation sectors globally. But large volumes of capital are needed to finance adoption of EVs themselves as well as to build out EV charging networks. In order to design products and programs to effectively support EV market growth, green banks, private capital providers, and other green finance stakeholders will be given an update on recent developments in building out EV infrastructure in the U.S. and the opportunities for lowering costs of EV leasing or ownership to accelerate adoption. The webinar will provide insight how public and private financial institutions can work together to accelerate growth of the EV market.

Join the Green Bank Network and experts from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Bloomberg New Energy Finance to address questions including:

• What business models are currently being used to build out EV charging infrastructure, and how do these models ensure that that the infrastructure is maintained?
• Where are financing gaps where public and private capital providers could work together to scale these models?
• What experience/data exist on revenue streams to lower the price of EV leasing or ownership? Specifically, what does the latest research tell us about residual value of EVs after leasing and potential secondary markets for EV batteries through stationary storage and battery recycling?

Featuring

• Luke Tonachel, Director of the Clean Vehicles and Fuels Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council
• Nick Albanese, Analyst of Advanced Transport at Bloomberg New Energy Finance
• Yayoi Sekine, Analyst of Energy Smart Technologies at Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Financing Clean Energy in Affordable Housing Through Green Banks: CT Green Bank Approaches

6 June 2017
Webinar

Please join the Green Bank Network for a webinar on the approaches CT Green Bank is taking to increase financing for clean energy in affordable housing properties and how Crum’s appointment to the Board will push the bank even further in its efforts. Our presenters are:

• Betsy Crum, Executive Director of the Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development and Member, CT Green Bank Board of Directors
• Kerry E. O’Neill, Vice President of Residential Programs at CT Green Bank
• Kim Stevenson, Associate Director, Multifamily Housing at CT Green Bank

Over the past several years, CT Green Bank has partnered with the affordable housing sector and private capital providers to provide critical education, financing, technical assistance and resources that address barriers to deployment of clean energy projects in affordable housing properties. In March, CT Green Bank strengthened its commitment to Connecticut’s low-to-moderate income residents by welcoming Betsy Crum, a veteran professional in affordable housing development and finance, to its board of directors.

Green & Resilience Banks: How Can the Green Investment Bank Model Play a Role in Scaling Up Climate Finance in Emerging Markets?

Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Webinar

The webinar featured discussion of a new policy working paper titled, “Green & Resilience Banks: How the Green Investment Bank Model Can Play a Role in Scaling Up Climate Finance in Emerging Markets“. The paper is jointly authored by Climate Finance Advisors, the Coalition for Green Capital, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. It was officially released at COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco.

Presenters shared highlights from the report, including information about the creation and capitalization of Green Investment Banks (GIBs) across the world that have had success in attracting private capital to low carbon, climate-resilient (LCR) infrastructure investments.

In addition to outlining the early successes of existing GIBs, presenters provided an overview of the newly released paper’s insight into how the GIB model can a useful approach for countries with developing and emerging economies to consider. Because of their focus on acting at a local and transactional level, the GIB model could help countries achieve climate goals, be a locus of financial innovation, and serve as a partner for international climate and development finance providers.

The presentations were followed by Q&A.

Investing in the Planet: Green Banks and Other Financial Tools to Scale Up Mitigation Technologies

14 November 2016
UNFCCC COP22 in Marrakesh, Morocco

The right financial mechanisms need to be in place to encourage investment in low carbon technologies and storage to stimulate deployment of the more mature technologies. This event examined financing challenges on-the-ground and solutions for policymakers and investors.

Speakers discussed the enabling environment that policy can provide and the need for sufficient financing. Our diverse set of speakers covered the full cycle for financing these technologies – from the initial types of technologies to the testing, commercialization, and financing phases.

At the event, Climate Finance Advisors, the Coalition for Green Capital, and the Natural Resources Defense Council released a new report titled “Green & Resilience Banks: How the Green Investment Bank Model Can Play a Role in Scaling Up Climate Finance in Emerging Markets”.

Organized by the Grantham Institute, The Institution of Chemical Engineers, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

OECD 3rd Annual Green Investment Finance Forum

13 – 14 October 2016
Tokyo, Japan

Featuring speakers from the UK Green Investment Bank (UK-GIB), Japan Green Finance Organisation (GFO), Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), Green Tech Malaysia, NY Green Bank, Connecticut Green Bank, NRDC and CGC.

The OECD Green Investment Financing Forum (GIFF) is an annual event aimed to promote dialogue and to enhance understanding between a wide range of countries and institutions interested in mobilising private investment financing for low carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure.

Speakers include high-level representatives from governments from OECD countries and emerging economies, developing countries, Green Banks, institutional investors and the private sector, international organisations and NGOs.

Fourth Annual Green Bank Congress and Green Bank Network Working Session

11 – 12 October 2016
Tokyo, Japan

The Green Finance Organisation of Japan and the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) of the Government of Japan jointly organized the Green Bank Congress 2016 on 11th October in Tokyo, Japan. This was the first Green Bank Congress after the Paris Agreement.

On the following day on 12th October, the Green Bank Network with hold a working session followed by an Environmental Finance Symposium hosted by the Ministry of Environment, covering topics related to Green Banks for a wider audience.

COP 21 Side Event hosted by OECD and Bloomberg Philanthropies

7 December 2015
Paris, France

Featuring speakers from Japan Green Finance Organisation, UK-Green Investment Bank, GreenTech Malaysia, Green Climate Fund and Bank of America

An official side event of the COP21 in Paris was hosted by the OECD and Bloomberg Philanthropies titled Green Investment Banks: Leveraging innovative public finance to scale up low-carbon investment. The event featured discussion on approaches to increase private investment in clean energy, from leading practitioners. The Green Bank Network was formally launched at the event.