Landscape of Green Finance in India

The report details a comprehensive methodology for mapping green finance in India, defining the scope of 'green finance' to include climate finance and environmental objectives like biodiversity and resource conservation. It establishes a framework for categorizing financial flows by source (domestic/international, public/private), instrument (grants, debt, equity), and sector (clean energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, and climate adaptation). The methodology employs a variety of data sources, including government budgets, OECD CRS, and project-level databases, while applying specific assumptions such as a 70:30 debt-to-equity gearing ratio and the use of Rio Markers for international public finance. A significant portion of the document is dedicated to the granular classification of on-farm agricultural adaptation activities, categorizing government schemes into 'absolute', 'lower bound', and 'upper bound' based on their adaptation relevance.

• The study defines green finance as encompassing climate finance—which supports mitigation and adaptation actions—as well as other environmental objectives necessary for sustainability, specifically biodiversity and resource conservation.
• The mapping of green finance is limited to primary capital flows and specifically excludes pollution abatement activities, biodiversity, forestry, and other land use.
• Financial flows are categorized by source, with domestic public funds including those from the Indian Exchequer (Union and State Government) and public sector undertakings (PSUs), while private sources include corporate actors, households, and commercial financial institutions.
• The methodology tracks investments across four primary sectors: clean energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, and climate adaptation, with the latter focusing on disaster risk management, flood and cyclone mitigation, drought management, and on-farm agriculture.
• To estimate transaction values from project-level data where values are missing, the study uses a proxy based on capacity addition (MW) and sector-wise capital cost norms from state-wise electricity regulatory commissions (SERC) tariff orders.
• A standard gearing ratio of 70% debt and 30% equity is assumed to compute project transaction values whenever the specific ratio is not reported in the database.
• Finance mobilized through the issuance of green bonds is excluded from the total to prevent double counting at the end-use level.
• For on-farm agricultural adaptation, the study uses a gradient-based categorization for government schemes: 'Absolute' for entirely adaptation-relevant schemes, 'Lower bound' for those where over 50% of objectives are adaptation-related (counting 75% of flows), and 'Upper bound' for those where less than half are adaptation-related (counting 25% of flows).
• The study analyzes the actual expenditures of 10 central ministries and the budgets of all 28 states and eight Union Territories of India for the financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2024). Landscape of Green Finance in India. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Methodology-Landscape-of-Green-Finance-in-India-2024.pdf

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Landscape of Green Finance in India. 2024. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Methodology-Landscape-of-Green-Finance-in-India-2024.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Landscape of Green Finance in India |date=December 2024 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Methodology-Landscape-of-Green-Finance-in-India-2024.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2024landscape, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Landscape of Green Finance in India}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2024}, month = dec, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Methodology-Landscape-of-Green-Finance-in-India-2024.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }