30th August 2025, Kathmandu
The Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA), in collaboration with Invest for Impact Nepal (IIN) and Environmental Management Centre Pvt Ltd (EMC), organized a virtual session of the Community of Practice (CoP) on “Climate Finance Opportunities in the Banking Sector”.
Climate Finance Opportunities in Banking Sector
The initiative was part of the NBA’s ongoing efforts to strengthen sustainable finance practices and explore opportunities that climate finance offers to Nepal’s banking industry.
Welcome Remarks and Objectives
Mr. Kapil Gautam, Lead of NBA’s Sustainable Finance Unit, delivered the welcome remarks. He highlighted the NBA’s continuous commitment to promoting sustainable finance practices and emphasized the importance of:
Peer learning among banking professionals
Institutional capacity-building
Knowledge exchange for advancing sustainable finance in Nepal
Technical Session 1: Climate Finance and Its Importance
The first presentation was delivered by Mr. Rajnish Kadambar, Executive Director & Head of ESG at Eversource Capital Pvt Ltd.
Key highlights included:
Climate finance as a tool to reduce fossil fuel dependency and enhance climate resilience
Different funding sources and financial instruments are available
Growing need for adaptation finance and loss & damage finance, particularly for vulnerable countries like Nepal
Technical Session 2: ESG Perspectives and Global Trends
The second technical session featured experts from FMO – Dutch entrepreneurial development bank:
Ms. Claire Gillig-Brouwer, Manager, Sustainability Standards Integration
Ms. Anamaria Roxana Ignat, CFA, Senior Investment Officer
Their discussion focused on the role of ESG practitioners in climate finance and shared global perspectives on emerging opportunities.
Key points:
Technological innovations and urgent climate adaptation needs are driving investments
Renewal projects must align with green finance taxonomies
Investments must follow the “do no significant harm” principle
Interactive Engagement and Participation
The session was moderated by Ms. Krupa Desai from EMC and concluded with an interactive Q&A segment.
More than 40 officials from member banks actively participated, reinforcing the importance of peer learning under the CoP initiative.
Advancing Sustainable Finance in Nepal
This session marked another milestone in the NBA’s journey to mainstream sustainable finance in Nepal’s banking sector. By bringing together industry experts, practitioners, and member banks, the Community of Practice continues to build awareness and strengthen institutional readiness for climate finance integration.