A green bank is a public-purpose financial institution that uses concessional or catalytic capital to crowd in private finance for clean energy, green buildings, resilience, and climate infrastructure. The big differences show up in scale, mandate, and tools.

In the U.S., borrowers often need an advisor to assemble green capital (banks + C-PACE + incentives). This gap explains why program literacy and structuring matter far more in the U.S. market.

United States

In the United States, green banks rarely lend directly at scale to large commercial real estate. They are designed to de-risk private lenders, not replace them.

• Decentralized: Mostly state, city, or quasi-public entities

• Market-making role: Credit enhancement, loan loss reserves, co-lending

• Strong focus on households & SMEs, growing but limited large-asset reach

• Often technology-specific (solar, heat pumps, EE retrofits)

• Typical tools

  • Loan guarantees & first-loss capital

  • Warehouse lines for local lenders

  • On-bill financing & green mortgages

  • Aggregation of small loans for securitization

  In the United States, green banks rarely lend directly at scale to large commercial real estate. They are designed to de-risk pr

Global Landscape

• National or supranational institutions

• Direct lending at scale (billions, not millions)

• Long tenors + ultra-low cost of capital

• Explicit mandates tied to industrial policy, housing, and infrastructure

• Typical tools

  • Direct senior and mezzanine loans

  • Sovereign-backed guarantees

  • Programmatic building retrofit finance

  • Blended finance with DFIs and MDBs

  Outside the U.S., green banks and DFIs are often the market, not just the catalyst—setting standards, pricing risk, and financing entire sectors.

List of Green Banks in USA