Green microfinance: the case of the Cresol System in Southern Brazil

Climate change which until recently seemed a luxury for the microfinance sector, now appears to be crucial for the future of the sector. Due to their low adaptive capacity, the millions of MF clients worldwide happen to be the most vulnerable to a changing climate. Adapting previous analysis conducted in Nepal and Bangladesh by Agrawala and Maëlis (2010) to the Brazilian context, in this inductive qualitative study we aim to assess potential synergies between MF and CC actions and what strategies can be harnessed to better respond to CC vulnerabilities at client/MF level. To do so, we investigated the case of the second largest rural microcredit programme in Brazil, Sistema Cresol de Cooperativas de Crédito Rural com Interação Solidária. Albeit important overlaps between Cresol's product envelope and CC strategies exist, there is still room to realise synergies to both mitigate a new potential source of risk to Cresol's portfolio and to increase clients' adaptive capacity.直至不久前，气候变化（climate change）在小额信贷领域仍显得无足轻重，如今却已成为该行业未来发展的核心要务。由于全球数百万小额信贷（microfinance, MF）客户的适应能力低下，他们恰好是气候变化影响下最脆弱的群体。本研究为归纳式质性研究，将Agrawala与Maëlis（2010）在尼泊尔和孟加拉国开展的既有分析适配至巴西语境，旨在评估小额信贷与气候变化（climate change, CC）行动间的潜在协同效应，以及可采用哪些策略以在客户与小额信贷机构层面更好地应对气候变化相关脆弱性。为此，我们针对巴西第二大农村小额信贷项目Sistema Cresol de Cooperativas de Crédito Rural com Interação Solidária展开案例研究。尽管Cresol的产品体系与气候变化应对策略已存在重要重叠，但仍有空间进一步挖掘协同效应，既能为Cresol的信贷组合规避新的潜在风险源，也能提升客户的气候适应能力。