Platformable launched their latest report, “Using Open Banking and Open Finance APIs to Build Green Fintech” today. The report describes how Europe and the UK use open banking and open finance APIs to enable the growth of new sustainability-focused financial products and services. The report specifically focuses on key drivers including the current regulatory environment, partnership action, consumer demand, and how banking API products from open banking platforms are being used to build sustainability products.

The report also identifies the emergence of a new green fintech subsector enabled by the open banking sector (in Europe and the UK banks are mandated to make data accessible in the form of technological components for independent fintech to build new customer-facing finance products). Already, 93 businesses allow customers to securely connect their bank accounts to access sustainable services and solutions.

“Our research found that open banking and open finance APIs make it possible to create sustainability value and build new green fintech solutions. Consumer demand, regulatory and policy drivers, and partnership networks are creating a new green fintech market in Europe and the UK. Green fintech have started using open banking and embedded finance APIs to address key environmental objectives while focusing on some of the causes of the climate crisis and environmental destruction, but a better focus on impactful actions, greater production ideation, and more experimentation with business models are needed,” said Mark Boyd, Founder of Platformable.

“What is great to see is that fintech companies are ready for the challenge and are creating new products. But there is a danger that the industry could end up focusing too much on individual consumer behaviour and on less-impactful areas rather than building solutions that leverage the power of enterprises and whole industry sectors to play a part,” said Jannika Aalto, Open Sustainability Lead and lead author of the report.

The report’s findings can help banks understand new partnerships and aid fintech in identifying product opportunities. It can also inform consumers of the type of products to expect on the market and allow regulators to monitor sustainable finance products available in their countries. It is available for download from Platformable.com and is also viewable online as an interactive series of data visualizations.