Kiva's Earth Day Announcement: Green Loans!
This morning, on the occasion of Earth Day, I received some very exciting news! One of my favorite nonprofits, Kiva, a micro-lending website that enables anyone in the world to lend $25 to entrepreneurs and students, now has a new product offering - green loans! Kiva’s new web page states:
Help people live sustainably around the world. Green loans promote clean and renewable sources of energy by funding organic fertilizers, stoves, drip irrigation systems, solar panels, biofuels, and more.
With the new Green Loans, Kiva borrowers can use the loans for business or personal use. For example, a Kenyan Kiva borrower used his loan to purchase solar panels to electrify his rural home, while a Peruvian farmer used the loan to purchase organic fertilizer for his crops. Kiva's press release lists a few other examples of Kiva Green Loans: loans to purchase renewable energy-generating devices, such as solar panels, wind power and biofuels; loans for transportation, including hybrid cars, converting cars to natural gas or purchasing a bicycle; loans for "green" home improvements, including more efficient heating methods or high-efficiency cookers/low propane gas stoves; and recycling-related loans, such as re-purposing or transforming used or recycled materials.