Optimising energy efficiency finance: adelphi supports banks in Sri Lanka

Staggering energy prices make business difficult for small and medium enterprises (SME) in Sri Lanka. But as credits for energy efficient technologies are not easy to obtain, adelphi consults Sri Lankan banks on reframing their evaluating and pricing process for loans.

In Sri Lanka, volatile and increasing energy and electricity prices threaten the competitiveness of many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By reducing their energy consumption through increased energy efficiency, companies could minimise these risks. However, the absence of fitting loan products for SMEs often hinders investments in energy efficiency technologies.

Since SMEs constitute the vast majority of companies in Sri Lanka, they are significant for the country’s consumption of energy. Against this backdrop, adelphi supports two Sri Lankan banks to anchor energy efficiency considerations in their standard banking procedures. First, adelphi supports the development of tools and trainings that will enable banks to identify energy costs and risks and integrate them in their standard procedures for evaluating and pricing loans for SMEs. Second, adelphi cooperates with the customers' relations departments of the banks to enable them to identify energy-intensive SMEs and motivate those with high saving potentials to implement energy efficiency measures.

adelphi's work is part of an SME Development Programme that has been initiated by the Sri-Lankan Ministry of Finance and Planning together with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).