The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Danish climate fintech, Agreena have today announced a financial services partnership to advance sustainable farming across Eastern Europe.
This first-of-its-kind collaboration aims to expand the regenerative agriculture transition by improving farmers' access to finance and supporting banks in achieving their green finance goals.
IFC is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Agreena will work with the institution’s Europe Sustainable Finance Project, which provides advisory services to increase the flow of climate finance towards initiatives and projects across a range of sectors, including agriculture.
The partnership aims to help banks support their agricultural customer portfolio in switching to more sustainable farm operations and unlock bank lending to farmers who can face a ‘finance gap’ in the early years of transitioning to regenerative farming.
With many farm businesses operating on thin margins, the demand for new equipment and the risk of short-term production losses can make the move to regenerative agriculture challenging, despite its ability to deliver long-term social, economic, and environmental benefits.
“By partnering with Agreena, IFC is committed to accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture in Eastern Europe,” said Liliana Pozzo, IFC Sustainable Finance Advisory Services Manager Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe.
“This collaboration not only helps farmers reduce their carbon footprint and enhance biodiversity but also equips financial institutions with the tools needed to support farmers during this critical transition period.”
Regenerative agriculture aims to create resilient agricultural systems through the implementation of practices including cover cropping, reduced tillage, sustainable use of crop residues and use of organic fertilisers.
Agreena supports over 1,000 farmers, who are transitioning more than two million hectares of farmland in 19 countries to regenerative farming.
Following an IPCC-aligned rigorous scientific methodology, Agreena’s third-party validated programme quantifies a farm’s greenhouse gas reductions and carbon removals.
The company’s advanced Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) approach combines advanced, satellite-driven, remote-sensing technology and on-site field inspections, to enable continuous monitoring of on-field practices while offering best-in-class rigour, accuracy and traceability at scale.
Agreena is already developing solutions for banks that are seeking to build strong, sustainable finance offers in the agriculture sector. Drawing on its expertise as the developer of Europe’s largest soil carbon programme, Agreena leverages its farmer interface and advanced Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) capabilities to assist banks with granular, verified farm-level data, to support eligibility documentation for green finance offers.
According to Frederik Aagaard, Chief Commercial Officer at Agreena:
“The agricultural sector is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse emissions, but it can also be a leader in the fight against climate change, and banks have a key role to play in unlocking this potential.
Our collaboration with IFC will enhance banks’ awareness of regenerative agriculture and soil carbon removals and support them with documentation. We also plan to explore new solutions for the market, such as carbon credits for loan repayment and green bonds.”
Lead image: Agreena.
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments