The Digital-Green Revolution in South Asia: How FinTech and GreenTech Could Shape South Asia’s Sustainable Future

By Prof. Bablu Kumar Dhar, Sulochana Dissanayake and Shashi Anuruddha

As the world edges closer to 2030, the halfway point in humanity’s collective push for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new horizon is already on the radar: Agenda 2050. This emerging framework looks beyond short-term goals to envision a future of climate neutrality, digital inclusion, and resilient prosperity. For South Asia, a region home to nearly two billion people, the stakes could not be higher.

A recent study, published in the Green Technologies and Sustainability journal, highlights an unconventional yet powerful partnership at the centre of this long-term vision: Financial Technology (FinTech) and Green Technology (GreenTech). Together, we proved these innovations could help South Asian nations leapfrog development barriers and accelerate their transition to a low-carbon, inclusive future. The study employed a qualitative, literature-based methodology using integrative thematic analysis to explore the synergistic potential of FinTech and GreenTech in advancing long-term sustainability transitions across South Asia. It synthesised secondary data from academic literature, institutional reports, and country-level case illustrations to identify patterns, conceptual linkages, and policy pathways toward Agenda 2050.

South Asia’s Twin Challenge

South Asia is often described as a land of contrasts. On the one hand, the region boasts rapid economic growth, booming technology sectors, and dynamic young populations. On the other hand, it faces stubborn obstacles: nearly 350 million people without electricity, more than a billion relying on dirty cooking fuels, and rising climate risks from floods, heatwaves, and erratic monsoons.

Traditional development approaches, which focus on large infrastructure projects, donor-led initiatives, or fossil-fuel-heavy industrialisation, are proving inadequate. The question is whether South Asia can find pathways that are not only fast and inclusive but also sustainable.

Enter FinTech and GreenTech

From our study, we argue that two technological forces, FinTech and GreenTech, could be decisive in shaping the region’s development trajectory.

• FinTech refers to digital financial innovations like mobile wallets, blockchain, online lending, and green bonds. In South Asia, these tools are already transforming lives. Bangladesh’s bKash and India’s PayTM allow millions of previously unbanked people to send money, pay bills, and access credit with a mobile phone.
• GreenTech, meanwhile, encompasses clean energy systems, sustainable transport, green architecture, and circular manufacturing. Across the region, solar mini-grids, electric vehicles, and eco-friendly buildings are gaining ground.

Individually, both technologies are essential. But when combined, their synergies multiply.

How FinTech Fuels GreenTech

Our paper identifies five powerful ways FinTech can accelerate GreenTech adoption in South Asia:

1.Green Finance Made Simple – Through crowdfunding platforms and mobile wallets, even low-income households can invest in solar panels or biogas systems. In Bangladesh and Pakistan, pay-as-you-go solar kits are already reaching rural communities.

2.Blockchain for Transparency – Smart contracts and digital tokens can make green bonds and renewable energy certificates more trustworthy and accessible, boosting investor confidence.

3.Insurance Against Climate Shocks – Weather-indexed microinsurance, delivered via mobile phones, helps farmers recover from floods or droughts more quickly.

4.Affordable Clean Tech Loans – Digital credit scoring and mobile lending reduce the barriers to adopting electric vehicles, smart irrigation, or energy-efficient appliances.

5.Data-Driven Green Governance – Mobile transactions and IoT-enabled sensors can be combined to track carbon emissions, monitor energy usage, and design more innovative environmental policies.

Together, these mechanisms create a digital-green ecosystem, where financial access and environmental solutions reinforce one another.

A Regional Snapshot

Our study compared four South Asian countries, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, and found different levels of readiness.

• India leads the way, with advanced digital infrastructure like Aadhaar (biometric IDs) and UPI (a real-time payments system), coupled with ambitious renewable energy targets. Blockchain pilots for peer-to-peer energy trading and sovereign green bonds are also emerging.
• Bangladesh has built one of the world’s most successful mobile money systems and is scaling decentralised solar solutions, though policy fragmentation remains a hurdle.
• Sri Lanka, despite economic challenges, is experimenting with FinTech incubators and clean tourism models, showing promise in niche areas.
• Pakistan lags in both digital readiness and clean energy investment but has taken recent steps toward sustainable banking and digital finance strategies.

These differences matter. While India appears well-positioned to lead, the rest of the region risks falling behind unless it aligns policies, strengthens institutions, and attracts investment.

Why 2050, Not Just 2030?

Much of the sustainability conversation today revolves around Agenda 2030. But the researchers argue that thinking only in terms of 2030 is shortsighted. By 2050, South Asia will be even more populous, more urbanised, and more vulnerable to climate shocks.

Agenda 2050 is about laying the structural foundations now: resilient grids, inclusive financial ecosystems, cross-border carbon markets, and digital public goods. Without long-term planning, countries may lock themselves into unsustainable systems that will be difficult to undo.

Policy Lessons

Our study calls for policy action. Among the recommendations:

• Coherent National Strategies – Digital finance and clean energy policies should not run in silos but be designed to reinforce one another.
• Regional Cooperation – Shared energy grids, cross-border carbon trading, and harmonized digital standards could deliver economies of scale.
• Investment in Digital Public Goods – From broadband access to national digital IDs, inclusive digital infrastructure is essential for making both FinTech and GreenTech work for everyone.
• Inclusive Governance – Policies must be gender-responsive and community-driven, ensuring that women, rural households, and marginalised groups benefit equally from digital-green transitions.

A Vision for 2050

The picture painted by the study is both ambitious and hopeful. Imagine a South Asia where:

• A farmer in rural Bangladesh uses AI-powered financial platforms that automatically design crop-based repayment plans for solar irrigation and climate-smart farming, fully integrated with regional carbon markets.
• A Sri Lankan fisherman is covered by real-time satellite-linked insurance, where payouts for climate disasters are transferred instantly through blockchain-based disaster relief funds.
• Indian households and industries participate in a national peer-to-peer green energy exchange, trading solar, wind, and biogas credits seamlessly via blockchain and smart contracts.
• Pakistani entrepreneurs and rural communities access tokenised shares in regional renewable megaprojects, owning part of wind and solar farms through mobile-based green investment platforms.

These are not distant fantasies; they are emerging realities that could scale dramatically over the next two decades.

The Bottom Line

South Asia is at a turning point. With its vast population, young workforce, and significant environmental risks, the region has the potential to either succeed as a global leader in sustainability or face deep failure. FinTech and GreenTech are each powerful, but together they can reshape how the region fights poverty, inequality, and climate change. Agenda 2050 is not only about survival but also about creating a fairer, greener, and stronger future. In that future, a simple mobile phone and a solar panel could be as life-changing as the mega-dams and coal plants of the past.

Disclaimer: This article is based on research published in Green Technologies and Sustainability.

Reference:
Dhar, B. K., Roshid, M. M., Dissanayake, S., Chawla, U., & Faheem, M. (2025). Leveraging FinTech and GreenTech for long-term sustainability in South Asia: Strategic pathways toward Agenda 2050. Green Technologies and Sustainability, 100263. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.grets.2025.100263.    

(The writers Prof. Bablu Kumar Dhar is a Professor of Business Administration, Mahidol University International College, Mahidol University, Thailand; Sulochana Dissanayake is a

Senior Lecturer at Rajarata University of Sri Lanka/Sessional Academic & PhD Candidate at Queensland University of Technology (QUT); and Shashi Anuruddha is Manager, Regional Development Bank (RDB), Kelaniya, Sri Lanka | Independent Investor, Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), Sri Lanka.)