Scoping Opportunities in Green and Circular Finance in India

The Circular Economy Catalyst recently launched the Practitioner Labs for Circular Economy Finance in India. As a first step, CEC brought together interested financial institutions – both banking and non-banking institutions – to discuss current activities in circular finance in India and to identify areas of interest for further action and collaboration. Furthermore, good practices and benchmarks from other contexts were discussed to highlight avenues for creating a more conducive ecosystem for enterprises in the circular economy to grow.

During rich discussions, several interest areas emerged to guide the upcoming engagement of the CEC in the circular finance landscape in India:

1. Financial institutions are interested in developing blended finance instruments targeted to enterprises in the circular economy, learning from good practices in similar economies

2. Access to technology is key for the transition to circularity in many industries – such as key industries such as textiles – and should be a focus topic of the development of financial products

3. Practical examples and case studies help financers to better understand business models in the circular economy and to develop risk sharing approaches

4. The identification of sustainability parameters is also key to defining the portfolio of enterprises in the circular economy and to bringing others in the institution on board.

The next steps for the Practitioner Labs for Circular Economy Finance will be to engage financial institutions to assess climate risks and opportunities in their banks, delve into small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) case studies in key sectors, and collaborate to develop financial products that can target the SMEs and unlock further private sector finance for the circular transition. 

Interested to join us in the next workshop? Get in touch with Camilla Shearman at shearmanadelphi [dot] de (shearman[at]adelphi[dot]de) to dive into the below topics and more.