By Linda Platts
Kiva, one of the pioneers in the microfinance industry, has added a new category to its loan program: green loans. The loans will apply exclusively to low-income entrepreneurs around the world who want to invest in cleaner, more energy-efficient resources and materials. Unlike other Kiva loans, they will be available to businesses as well as individuals.
The overall aim of green loans is to save costs on commonly used resources like fuel and electricity. In developing countries with poor infrastructure, getting electricity to remote areas can be impossible, and accessing kerosene and gasoline is both difficult and inefficient.
With green loans, people are buying solar lanterns and installing solar panels on the roofs of homes and businesses. The energy brings light to extend the work day and improve productivity. In turn, the borrowers are able to raise their standard of living and earn enough money to repay their loans. Kiva has a loan repayment rate of 98 percent, unlike some microfinance groups that have failed because of lax lending policies.
Other borrowers are purchasing high-efficiency cookers and low-propane gas stoves to replace wood and other materials used for cooking and heat. Much of the developing world spends hours every day gathering wood, losing precious time for other activities, and perhaps inadvertently damaging the environment.
Already, the loans have made it possible to insulate a home in Mongolia, bring light to a hut in Kenya, and allow a taxi driver in Brazil to switch his gas-guzzling engine for a more efficient one. These improvements will help the borrowers climb out of poverty, while repaying their loans and improving the environment.
For more information visit: www.kiva.org
Founded 30 years ago in Bozeman, Montana, PERC—the Property and Environment Research Center—is the nation’s oldest and largest institute dedicated to improving environmental quality through property rights and markets.
PERC’s publications, each designed to resonate with specific groups, move ideas generated at PERC to broader audiences.
Research is at the heart of PERC's work, with a focus on the question: What is the link between economic growth and environmental quality?
The goal of PERC’s programs is to fully realize the vision of establishing “PERC University,” where scholars, students, policy makers, and others convene to expand the applications of free market environmentalism.
PERC's fellowships share a common goal of exposing new scholars, students, journalists, and policy makers to free market environmentalism, as well as enable scholars already familiar with FME to explore new applications.
PERC continues to publish and present a broad range of research and discussion through podcasts, videos, and other multimedia channels.