The Quest for Financing Environmental Sustainability in Emerging Nations: Can Internet Access and Financial Technology Be Crucial?

Environmental problems have continued to ravage emerging economies with numerous negative impacts on human life. The African continent is the worst heat among emerging nations with increasing dissert encroachment, flooding and air population. The mitigation and adaptation approach through environmentally sustainable financing can be the bailout for emerging countries to build a climate resilient eco-system that drives environmental quality. As a result, we devote this chapter to analysing the role of internet access and financial technology adoption to drive the quest for environmental sustainability financing in emerging nations with a special focus on African countries. We discover that environmental financing in African nations is far below the needed climate change finance, thus lowering the stock of green investment projects in the region. The situational analysis also reveals that the public sector accounts for 86% of climate funding in Africa, with the private sector contributing only 14%. Considering the role of internet access and Fintech adoption, we discover that internet access has improved substantially from 6 to 29.36% over the last decades, and Fintech adoption has increased likewise. The study concludes that African nations have the potential through the financial system to mop private funds for sustainable investment leveraging on internet access and Fintech penetration and adoption.