Banks looking for loans with a conscience may have just received a big help. Indian Tech Major Tech Mahindra (Techm) has launched a new platform “I.GreenFinance” that seeks to help banks and those lenders negotiate a green and sustainable environment with the help of AI. Short Asia + 1
i.GreenFinance is not just another Fintech widget. Developed with Amazon Web Services (AWS) a cloud-based computing tool and reiterative-ai to exchange data collection (environment, reporting and tracking – from loan tracking.
This will require real insight, auditable reports and – most important of all – sunshine that green money is actually being used for green projects. Short Asia + 1
What's cool (and, frankly, kind of overlooked) is how this deals with one of the biggest hang-ups in sustainable finance: unreliable ESG data.
Big green lending has been done for a long time in the absence of agreed-upon Esg metrics and disaggregated data, says Tech Mahindra's chief executive officer. I.green finance promises to solve that with a standard ESG assessment – enabling, in theory at least, lenders to confidently measure green portfolios temporarily in regions. Short Asia + 1
The timing could not have been better. With many countries taking steps to make disclosure regulations more restrictive and investors increasingly pushing for improved environmental accountability, AI-based ESG tools are in high demand.
AI has become a key player in ESG Reporting – Automated data mining and on-the-fly compliance checks to follow ever-changing regulations, according to analysis. Consultation Me + 1
Naturally – it's not all arrows and sunshine. But experts are quick to warn that while AI can be very cool for getting goals for suggestions and tests of strength, they are good only when it is appropriate that the underlying firms depend on the fact that the firms do not have their own models with AI and how they are able to provide good management.
Some scholarly work even warns of “trading at the cost of energy” and the difficulty in fighting morals when making hard decisions. ONNLOACTE + 2ARXIV + 2
But still, I have to ask: creating something like I.GreenFinance is sure like a big, sharp bet in the world of tomorrow where banks can not only act – but also invest with a real response.
If other lenders were to follow this model, maybe green money would no longer be a niche – maybe it would become a new thing.
