GREEN AWARENESS AS A PREDICTOR OF GREEN FINANCE? WHAT ARE THEIR ROLES IN PREDICTING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY?

Banks in India wish to make green loans.Employees in Indian firms will only apply for the green loans if they are familiar with the benefits of environmental sustainability.We present three sources of green awareness to disseminate green finance knowledge to Indian corporate employees.Green awareness is conjectured to increase the propensity to use green financing instruments which leads to environmental sustainability.Medium and large enterprises in Kerala, India were selected.A total of 225 employees of these organizations were surveyed to assess three dimensions of green awareness, green finance, and environmental sustainability.A Partial Least Squares Structural Equations Model was used for data analysis.Mode Awareness Received and Awareness of Green Finance Products significantly increased the propensity to use green financing, such as green loans.Awareness of Green Management and Green Initiatives weakly predicted green finance.Green finance significantly increased environmental sustainability.The use of green mode awareness tools such as newspapers, online ads, and emails is effective in increasing green awareness, which in turn, increases the use of green finance instruments provided by banks.Green awareness products including green home office conversion loans and green housing loans may be used to encourage corporate employees to apply for green bank loans.