Irish credit union members are borrowing significantly higher amounts to invest in energy-saving home improvements and electric vehicles, according to new data from Greenify, the national green lending initiative from Collaborative Finance. Collaborative Finance is owned by 34 credit unions and was set up to offer a standardised loan products with a common rate. The first of these was Cultivate for farmers which has been very successful. Greenify is a consumer loan product with a low 5.5% rate for consumers that want to make their homes more efficient or to buy an EV.
During its initial phase, Greenify reports that its loan values ranged from €20,075 for home improvements to €21,550 for electric vehicles – approaching twice the average credit union loan outstanding of €11,094.
The Cork-based Credit Unions participating include Mitchelstown Credit Union and Synergy Credit Union. The experts behind the Greenify initiative say that figures point to a marked change in borrower behaviour, with members increasingly taking out larger loans where there is a clear payback through lower energy bills and running costs. Greenify loans are designed to support this, offering competitive credit union finance for solar panels, home energy upgrades and electric vehicles.
CARBON CALCULATOR
Greenify has just launched the Greenify Carbon Calculator, a tool designed to help credit unions measure the environmental impact in real terms of lending for solar panels and electric vehicles. The calculator enables participating credit unions to track the carbon emissions reduced through lending for solar panels and electric vehicles, using verified Irish data sources.
Greenify estimates that if 500 members across 20 credit unions installed solar panels, annual carbon savings could exceed 505 tonnes of CO2. This is equivalent to removing around 117 cars from the road each year, or the annual electricity use of approximately 67 homes. With 33 credit unions already part of the Greenify network and strong interest from others, those kinds of impacts are well within reach.
A new audience for credit unions
Greenify reports that it is also attracting new types of borrowers. Many applicants are not traditional credit union borrowers, but homeowners with the capacity to invest in energy upgrades and electric vehicles. This is expanding the reach of credit unions into new borrower segments, while maintaining a strong focus on responsible lending standards.
JP Prendergast, Director of Collaborative Finance, stated that they were starting to get ‘a clearer picture of the combined impact of this type of lending’.
“Each decision is made locally, but when you look across the sector, it adds up to something significant.
“The carbon calculator gives us a simple, consistent way to capture that impact and translate lending activity into a meaningful estimate of emissions savings. Alongside the benefits for borrowers, it also helps credit unions get ahead of future sustainability reporting by building a reliable, trackable dataset.
Overall, it provides a much clearer view of the scale of environmental contribution already being delivered through lending that is happening every day,” he concluded.
