IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sol/wpaper/2013-174739.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Green Microfinance in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Davide Forcella
  • Marek Hudon

Abstract

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are alternative financial providers offering financial services to people typically excluded from the standard banking sector. While most MFIs are active in developing countries, there is also a young and developing microfinance sector in Europe; however, very little literature exists on this MFI segment. In this paper, we analyze the environmental performance of 58 European MFIs. Our results suggest that the size of the MFI, investor concern for environmental performance and, to a lesser extent, donor interest, are closely related to the institution’s environmental performance. Moreover, providing loans larger than microcredits is linked to better environmental performance. This could suggest that the additional revenues generated from these loans, also called cross-subsidies, could help MFIs to strengthen their environmental bottom line. Finally, no evidence suggests that profit status explains environmental performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Davide Forcella & Marek Hudon, 2014. "Green Microfinance in Europe," Working Papers CEB 14-020, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/174739
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/174739/3/wp14020.pdf
    File Function: wp14020
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Williamson & Gary Lynch-Wood & John Ramsay, 2006. "Drivers of Environmental Behaviour in Manufacturing SMEs and the Implications for CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 317-330, September.
    2. Marek Hudon, 2009. "Should Access to Credit be a Right?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(1), pages 17-28, January.
    3. Susan Johnson, 1998. "Microfinance north and south: contrasting current debates," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(6), pages 799-810.
    4. Anastasia Cozarenco & Ariane Szafarz, 2013. "Women’s Access to Credit in France: How Microfinance Institutions Import Disparate Treatment from Banks," Working Papers CEB 13-037, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Komatsu, Satoru & Kaneko, Shinji & Ghosh, Partha Pratim, 2011. "Are micro-benefits negligible? The implications of the rapid expansion of Solar Home Systems (SHS) in rural Bangladesh for sustainable development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4022-4031, July.
    6. Beatriz Armendáriz & Ariane Szafarz, 2011. "On Mission Drift in Microfinance Institutions," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Beatriz Armendáriz & Marc Labie (ed.), The Handbook Of Microfinance, chapter 16, pages 341-366, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Anastasia Cozarenco & Ariane Szafarz, 2013. "Female Access to Credit in France: How Microfinance Institutions Import Disparate Treatment from Banks," AMSE Working Papers 1350, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France, revised Dec 2013.
    8. Fabrizio Botti & Marcella Corsi, 2010. "A Social Performance Analysis of Italian Microfinance," Working Papers CEB 10-020.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Bert Scholtens, 2009. "Corporate Social Responsibility in the International Banking Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 159-175, May.
    10. Hayam Wahba, 2008. "Does the market value corporate environmental responsibility? An empirical examination," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 89-99, March.
    11. Fabrizio Botti & Marcella Corsi, 2011. "Measuring the Social Performance of Microfinance in Europe," Working Papers CEB 11-037, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    12. Marion Allet, 2012. "Why do microfinance institutions go green?," Working Papers CEB 12-015, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Davide Forcella & Marek Hudon, 2016. "Green Microfinance in Europe," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 445-459, May.
    2. Marion Allet & Marek Hudon, 2015. "Green Microfinance: Characteristics of Microfinance Institutions Involved in Environmental Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 395-414, February.
    3. Simon Zaby, 2019. "Science Mapping of the Global Knowledge Base on Microfinance: Influential Authors and Documents, 1989–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Jiafeng Gu, 2021. "Spatial Dynamics between Firm Sales and Environmental Responsibility: The Mediating Role of Corporate Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Jessica Schicks, 2013. "From a Supply Gap to a Demand Gap? The Risk and Consequences of Over-indebting the Underbanked," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Jean-Pierre Gueyie & Ronny Manos & Jacob Yaron (ed.), Microfinance in Developing Countries, chapter 8, pages 152-177, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Corsini, Filippo & Appio, Francesco Paolo & Frey, Marco, 2019. "Exploring the antecedents and consequences of environmental performance in micro-enterprises: The case of the Italian craft beer industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 340-350.
    7. Agier, Isabelle & Szafarz, Ariane, 2013. "Microfinance and Gender: Is There a Glass Ceiling on Loan Size?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 165-181.
    8. Labie, Marc & Méon, Pierre-Guillaume & Mersland, Roy & Szafarz, Ariane, 2015. "Discrimination by microcredit officers: Theory and evidence on disability in Uganda," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 44-55.
    9. Yu‐Xiang Yen, 2018. "Buyer–supplier collaboration in green practices: The driving effects from stakeholders," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1666-1678, December.
    10. Kathy Babiak & Sylvia Trendafilova, 2011. "CSR and environmental responsibility: motives and pressures to adopt green management practices," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), pages 11-24, January.
    11. Icíar García-Pérez & María Ángeles Fernández-Izquierdo & María Jesús Muñoz-Torres, 2020. "Microfinance Institutions Fostering Sustainable Development by Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-23, March.
    12. Nandini Bhalla, 2022. "Examining the Impact of Issue Salience, Issue Proximity, Situational Motivation, and Communicative Behaviors on Environmental CSR Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-15, February.
    13. Sergio Manrique & Carmen-Pilar Martí-Ballester, 2017. "Analyzing the Effect of Corporate Environmental Performance on Corporate Financial Performance in Developed and Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-30, October.
    14. Kejing Chen & Wenqi Guo & Yanling Kang & Qingqing Wan, 2021. "Does religion improve corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 808-818, March.
    15. Joanna Wall-Tweedie & Sheila N. Nguyen, 2018. "Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side? A Review of the Asia-Pacific Sport Industry’s Environmental Sustainability Practices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 741-761, October.
    16. Hailu Abebe Wondirad, 2022. "Interest rates in microfinance: What is a fair interest rate when we lend to the poor?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4537-4548, December.
    17. Boubaker, Sabri & Liu, Pei-Zhi & Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun, 2024. "Do anti-corruption campaigns affect corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    18. Pepe, Cosetta & Musso, Fabio & Risso, Mario, 2009. "Retailers and SME suppliers social responsibility in international supply chains," MPRA Paper 31112, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Laureti, Carolina & Szafarz, Ariane, 2023. "Banking regulation and costless commitment contracts for time-inconsistent agents," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    20. Ru-Jen Lin & Rong-Huei Chen & Thao-Minh Ho, 2013. "Market Demand, Green Innovation, and Firm Performance: Evidence from Hybrid Vehicle Industry," Diversity, Technology, and Innovation for Operational Competitiveness: Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Technology Innovation and Industrial Management,, ToKnowPress.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate Social Responsibility; Europe; Environment; Microcredit; Microfinance;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/174739. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Benoit Pauwels (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cebulbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.