Exploring Green Microfinance : An Analysis of Environmental Protection Language in Microfinance Lending Criteria

This paper explores four different rationales for incorporating a concern for the natural environment into the practice of microfinance. A binomial descriptive content analysis investigates the incidence of this so-called ‘green microfinance' in a sample of forty microfinance institutions (MFIs) whose lending criteria were publicly available. We conclude that although there might be several rationales to support the proliferation of green microfinance very few MFIs are embedding such a commitment into the structure of their financial products. The disconnect uncovered in this paper is important, because it suggests that ignoring the environment might correspondingly endanger the health of the very people microfinance is designed to help