13.10.2023 BDB in search of green projects

Banks are increasingly turning to green financing, although there are still not enough prepared projects and evaluating them as "green" is difficult. This became clear during the Third National Conference for Small and Medium Business "Green Smart Growth" organized by BGLOBAL magazine.

The Chairman of the Management Board and Executive Director of the Bulgarian Development Bank, Iliya Karanikolov, took part in the discussion "Possibilities for financing the change".

"Green transformation is the focus of all banks," he said, pointing out that BDB, together with the European Investment Bank, is transforming its internal processes and building capacity to be able to provide direct green financing. For now, the assessment of how green an investment is is made through a tool developed by EIB.

"This tool is still not ideal because it does not cover all economic sectors, but through it we are upgrading our knowledge," Iliya Karanikolov explained. Currently, about 13% of the loans granted by the bank can be defined as green.

At the beginning of November, BDB will sign a guarantee agreement under the InvestEU programme of the European Commission, under which more than BGN 2.3 billion will be provided to commercial banks. Part of the money will also be directed to support green projects.