For years Gladys Rafaela Martínez had been using gas and charcoal as fuel for cooking, causing household pollution that was bad for health. Now, thanks to an innovative financing product offered by her financial institution, Fundación Paraguaya, she has been able to buy a much more efficient and safer induction stove.

This green financial product was introduced as part of an energy efficient project financed through the Inter-American Development Bank EcoMicro program and implemented by a consortium composed of Canadian firms Econoler and Développement international Desjardins (DID). While directly improving the living conditions of Mrs. Martínez and hundreds of other households in Paraguay, it highlights the positive contribution that inclusive finance can make in the fight against climate change.

Through this initiative, the Fundación Paraguaya is greatly facilitating the transition to induction cooking by:

• taking charge of finding a reliable supplier and negotiating a preferred price for their clients along with a guarantee on the equipment,

• providing its clients with all the necessary information on how to use induction cooking and its advantages while ensuring clients have the means to repay their loans, and

• combining the loan and purchase of an induction stove along with compatible cooking utensils into a single step.

To date, over 1,000 households have turned to induction cooking – and the numbers keep adding up. As a result, these people reduced their environmental footprint and preserved the health and the security of their families while saving substantial amounts of money.

But green financial products are not the only leverage used by inclusive finance to help reduce or adapt to climate change. Implementation of mobile solutions, support for dissemination of innovative agricultural techniques, improvements to environmental risk management: those are some of the wide range of interventions that can be conducted to join the fight against climate change and help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.