Blended Finance for Clean Water: Applying the Green Bank Model to Fill North Carolina’s Water Quality Investment Gap

Abstract

As the threat of climate change looms over North Carolina, so does the accompanying risk of deteriorating water quality and the economic impacts it can bring. Improving water quality will require investments beyond just what public funding sources can provide, and the increasingly popular approach of blended finance presents opportunities for private sector financing to alleviate some of this pressure. More specifically, a public-private green bank focusing on water quality improvements could be the answer to unlocking the capital necessary to preserve the resource on which North Carolina’s economy relies.