Public banking in the green transition - Exploring institutional heterogeneity and the role of green public investments

The present work offers an original contribution on the role of public development and promotional banks in supporting the green transition, by adopting a multilevel perspective - from the global to the local level - that highlights their spans of action and potential for accelerating climate-aligned investments through a wide range of activities. As a first contribution, the research examines the heterogeneity of these institutions across various dimensions through a consistent classification system and a benchmarking analysis of key players. Then, with reference to their international scope, it analyses key infrastructure initiatives promoted by Public Development Banks (PDBs) and Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), with particular attention to Africa and a focus on the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investments (PGII) and its 2024 Joint Action Proposal for Sustainable Infrastructure Investment in Africa, published under the Italian G7 Presidency. Finally, from a local perspective, it develops an original “green tagging” methodology for public investments in Italy, providing an initial framework for estimating the potential alignment of public sector portfolios with the EU Green Taxonomy, which could be further refined and expanded as a replicable and accessible approach. The analysis therefore contributes theoretically to the academic literature on public finance, and empirically to practitioners’ needs - both public authorities and financial intermediaries – for robust tools to assess the “greenness” of public investments and public-sector portfolios. More broadly, the thesis sheds light on a category of financial intermediaries that remains under-researched in the academic literature.