Greening Finance and Financing the Green : considerations and observations on the role of finance in energy transitions

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Taking Germany and Poland as illustrative cases, the article explores the variety of roles played by the financial sector in the development of a green(er) economy. These two countries take different paths in their efforts to shift to a more sustainable power supply: While Germany is attempting a transition to a post-nuclear and post-fossil energy supply, coal-dependent Poland officially plans to enter into the nuclear business. On the basis of empirical results from an ongoing research project, the paper argues that the financial industry is increasingly exerting influence on the energy sector in Germany, whereas partly opposite developments (e.g. withdrawal tendencies of institutional investors in the Polish renewable market) can be observed in Poland. In conceptual terms, the paper aims at establishing a context for thinking the green economy and greening of the economy from a perspective that integrates both, insights gained from both the sustainability transitions discourse and the financialization debate.