Episode Description:

Green bonds have been a successful innovation to drive billions of dollars towards climate investments. Yet what did it take to get them started? From a small project at the World Bank in 2008, to the hundreds of billions that are now deployed, the success of the program was not expected nor predicted by the initiators.

Shilpa Patel takes us on a journey, not only of what it took for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s sister organization, to underwrite their own green bond, but also on some thoughts on how one can be an innovative intrapreneur within large and hierarchical institutions. Perhaps the secret sauce: being surrounded by a large diverse group of people who are aligned to the organization’s mission.

As a generalist, Shilpa’s personal secret is to be a generalist who is able to bring together disparate stakeholders. A generalist gives one the analytical framework to integrate different streams of expertise into a holistic solution.

Interview by Jimmy Jia (www.jimmyjia.com)

Music by Sean Hart (www.seanhart.com)

Website: www.leversforchangepodcast.com