What: Climate-friendly investment products Who: Triodos Bank and most large banks
What: Credit loans and audits for energy-saving housing and driving Who: Nearly all the surveyed banking groups
A better example of ‘green’ investment products are the investment funds offered by Triodos Bank. These funds give priority to companies with more than 50% of their activities in environmental technology, renewable energy, organic farming and responsible health care. Moreover, firms in the investment funds of Triodos Bank are also selected based on negative social and environmental criteria. The same exclusion criteria as described in savings products above thus apply.120
Cheap green loans for dwellings The Belgian government accords an interest rebate of 1.5% and a tax reduction for green loans122 in private homes. AXA, BNP Paribas, Dexia, ING and KBC offer credit loans eligible for this government benefit. These are home loans and instalment loans. AXA, BNP Paribas and Dexia indicate that they give an interest rebate on top of the government’s. BNP Paribas and AXA also offer loans at a reduced rate for green investments that do not meet the governmental criteria. These may include investments for larger amounts, for DIYers and/ or investments which are not 100% ‘green’. Triodos Bank specializes in offering a mortgage for passive houses. These are homes that barely require heating installations.
In addition to this, most large banks such as AXA, BNP Paribas, Dexia, ING and KBC offer green, sustainable or climate-friendly investment products. These are usually investment funds or structured products. They invest in securities of companies and/or governments that are selected based on ecological criteria. Whether an activity is environmentally friendly or not is determined by the product developers themselves. Some automatically exclude companies involved in tar sands, coal, oil and gas or nuclear energy, others do not or only under certain circumstances. Some products only include companies that have more than 50% of their activities in renewable energy, for others a much smaller share is already enough. Specific to structured products is that most of the money is invested in fixed income securities. This way, only a very small proportion of the funds are invested in environmentally screened companies. Some products do not even invest in them, but simply link the product’s proceeds to the screened company’s proceeds. Here, green comes very close to greenwash.121
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Triodos Bank: http://www.triodos.be/be/static/pdf/benl_investmentcriteria.pdf, last visit on 18th of May 2010. For those who want more examples of such investment products can visit the website of Netwerk Vlaanderen where a guide to savings and investment products is available: http://www.netwerkvlaanderen.be/nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory &id=34&Itemid=321.
Cheap loans for green business premises and energy audits Dexia offers a special energy-line for public authorities and the non-profit sector. This energy-line funds the installation of solar panels or cogeneration units with a minimum capacity of 10 kWp through leasing. Dexia links this lease to a service that provides tailored guidance in terms of preliminary studies, performance, installation, inspection, maintenance, etc. The reimbursement is based on the real financial gains derived from the savings and may be eligible for a reduced rate if the investment meets the conditions set by the European Investment Bank. BNP Paribas also proposes an ‘A to Z counselling’ available for companies with projects of 500kWp or about 15,000 m2 roof area.
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The loan is solely to be used to finance the following energy saving expenses: replacement of old boilers, maintenance of the boiler, installation of a system of water heating by solar energy, installation of solar panels for converting solar energy into electrical energy, placement all other equipment for the production of geothermal energy, installation of double glazing, installation of roof, floor and wall insulation, installation of thermostatic valves or a room thermostat with a time switch, implementation of an energy audit. Source: Federal Public Service Finance: http://minfin.fgov.be/portail2/nl/themes/dwelling/ energysaving/green.htm, last visit on 18th of May 2010.
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