This scoping report aims to improve the understanding of the role played by credit lines in enhancing the access to finance for green investment projects. To date, most research on climate finance focuses on developing “innovative” financial instruments. This study investigates how a somewhat “classic” instrument is being used in innovative ways. Indeed, Public Financial Institutions (PFIs)1 have extended credit lines to Local Financial Institutions (LFIs)2 for subsequent on-lending to end-borrowers for many years. More recently, PFIs have started to tailor this product to support “green lending”, i.e. lending to green projects, including renewable energy, energy and resource efficiency, sustainable transport, waste management, and in some cases climate change resilience (adaptation). These tailored credit lines are referred to as “Green Credit Lines (GCLs)” throughout this report.
