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Summary of Roundtable on Microfinance and the Environment: Setting the Research and Policy Agenda
5 May 2006, Hall, J., Israel, E. & Lal, A.

Report of a meeting convened by Green Microfinance, LLC, and the Wharton Environmental Management Program, May 5-6, 2006, Philadelphia, US

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.

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Publisher(s):
GreenMicrofinance Center