Credit Supply and Green Investments

Abstract

Does an increase in credit supply affect firms' likelihood to invest in green technologies? To answer this question, we use text algorithms to extract information on green investments from the comments to the financial statements of Italian SMEs between 2015 and 2019. To identify the effect of credit supply, we use all loans disbursed by banks operating in Italy to construct a firm-specific time-varying instrument for credit availability. We find a large positive elasticity of green investments to credit supply. The effect is concentrated among firms with high availability of internal capital and in areas with higher preferences for environmental protection. Subsidies and market competition can spur green investments if combined with environmental awareness.

Keywords: Credit supply, CO2 emissions, green investments, climate finance, bank credit.

JEL Classification: G32, Q54, Q55