Absa Bank Kenya surpasses KES 204 billion in sustainable finance disbursements, with green lending hitting 30% of total loans.
TL;DR
Absa Bank Kenya released its 2025 Sustainability and Climate Report in Nairobi, revealing KES 55.3 billion in sustainable finance disbursements for 2025, bringing the cumulative total since 2022 to over KES 204 billion.
Intelligence
Out of the KES 55.3 billion disbursed in 2025, KES 48.8 billion funded SMEs, women-led enterprises, and youth entrepreneurs, while KES 6.5 billion backed green projects like renewable energy and climate-smart agriculture.
Interim CEO Yusuf Omari announced a new corporate strategy targeting a permanent 30% allocation of gross loans to sustainable finance, alongside compliance with international IFRS S1 and S2 climate disclosure standards.
For East African startups and SMEs, Absa's aggressive pivot to green lending signifies that local Tier-1 commercial banks are becoming practical funding alternatives to traditional venture capital.
By adopting international IFRS S1 and S2 reporting standards, Absa is setting a benchmark in Kenya that will pressure other local financial institutions to formalize their green lending metrics.
This shift opens up significant debt financing pipelines for founders who can tangibly measure and report their ESG and climate-tech impact.
4 companies and people in this story have tracked profiles.
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