Against the backdrop of the impending climate and biodiversity crises, a growing number of central banks and financial regulators have recognized the need for addressing environmental risks through their prudential policies, and for scaling up green finance to support the transition to a sustainable and resilient economy.

Until recently, green finance and financial inclusion have been treated in the academic and policy literature mostly as two distinct, largely unrelated concepts. However, this study shows that there are meaningful overlaps between these two areas of finance.

This study calls for a holistic approach that combines green finance and financial inclusion policies in an integrated inclusive green finance (IGF) approach. It provides a conceptual framework of how financial inclusion can enable and support climate change adaptation and mitigation in principle. It also approaches inclusive green finance from a policymaker's perspective.

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The Inclusive Green Finance workstream is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), supported by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), based on a decision by the German Bundestag.