The Green Digital Finance Alliance (GDFA) and the Swiss Green Fintech network have officially launched the world’s inaugural green fintech taxonomy at the Building Bridges Summit in Geneva.
This taxonomy is designed to enhance and promote the green fintech market by providing a unified framework for policymakers, investors, and industry participants to evaluate green fintech initiatives.
The report categorizes green fintechs into several distinct groups:
1. Green digital payment and account solutions
2. Green digital investment solutions
3. Digital ESG-data and analytics solutions
4. Green digital crowdfunding and syndication platforms
5. Green digital risk analysis and insure-tech
6. Green digital deposit and lending solutions
7. Green digital asset solutions
Furthermore, the document identifies key databases pertinent to each category of green fintech. It highlights that access to specific datasets could significantly bolster innovation within the sector. Notable open-source datasets that have propelled fintech advancements include Earth observation data from Copernicus and NOAA, carbon inventories, voluntary carbon credit registries, and open banking data infrastructure. Additional proprietary databases managed by ESG data vendors also play a critical role.
The report emphasizes that optimizing the Internet of Things (IoT) and data infrastructure—through initiatives like national or regional data hubs—could accelerate innovation across these taxonomy categories.
As the fintech landscape evolves, we are witnessing a shift into a third wave of market development. This phase is characterized by fintech solutions that align financial behaviors with environmental goals, guided by frameworks such as the one developed by the GDFA.
The Green Digital Finance Alliance and the Swiss Green Fintech network are welcoming feedback on their report, with the goal of finalizing the taxonomy by the first quarter of 2022.