Summary of Roundtable on Microfinance and the Environment: Setting the Research and Policy Agenda

This document reports on the Green Microfinance-Wharton Roundtable that aimed to explore the ways in which the microfinance industry can continue to grow as an agent for the end of poverty and a healed environment.The report states that:

• The dramatic growth in microfinance can either be a growing problem, or a growing opportunity for environmental change;
• Environmental depletion leads to reduced availability of resources and increased costs of inputs, which reduces sustainability of resources;
• Environmental education would help MFI leaders see that lending for environmentally friendly technologies would provide new markets for MFIs facing increased competition.

The report contains:

• A list of “environment guiding principles” that microenterprises should follow;
• A summary of the Opening Keynote Address, in which Robert Christen, Director, Boulder Microfinance Training Program, identifies opportunities to fortify the link between microfinance and the environment;
• Summaries of three case studies of microenterprises with environment-friendly designs and policies;
• Summaries of Roundtables 1, 2 and 3, that respectively discussed:
  • Whether microenterprise should be in the business of environmental protection;
  • Ways by which MFIs could promote both environmental sustainability and poverty reduction;
  • Whether donors and investors in microfinance have a responsibility to ensure that their support to microfinance does no harm to the environment.
• Summary remarks on the three roundtables.