Published: June 6, 2011
Partnership with local bank to boost sustainable lending.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, has launched a sustainable energy finance initiative in Lebanon.
The organisation will develop financial products to help Lebanese companies use resources more efficiently and to protect the environment by increasing access to finance for projects that will save or promote the efficient use of energy and other resources.
This has been launched in partnership with Banque Libano-Francaise, in the first sustainable energy finance project venture between the IFC and a bank in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Also supporting the project are Finland, the UK’s Department for International Development and the Islamic Development Bank.
Energy costs and unsustainable practices are estimated to cost Lebanese businesses more than US$400mn annually in lost profits, according to the IFC, and it is hoped that this venture will address this problem.
Luke Haggarty, head of IFC Advisory Services in the Middle East and North Africa, said promoting resource efficiency is a key part of IFC’s strategy in Lebanon and that this sustainable energy financing project will help businesses save money.
Through this project Banque Libano-Francaise will increase its sustainable-related lending to meet the energy needs of small and medium-sized businesses looking to increase their resource efficiency.
The project is being launched at the same time that the Lebanon Green Building Council unveiled its ARZ Building Rating System, which encourages commercial building owners to undertake renovations that save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.