Evaluation of the demand for green finance products: A research on industrial enterprises in Aydin

Today, in line with the increasing needs of people, the increasing production inputs of industrial zone companies to meet these needs have led to rapid and irresponsible consumption of natural resources. Climate change occurs as a result of nature destruction due to the increasing production and consumption cycle of human beings. This collapse of nature is becoming the most important issue first in our own countries and then in the whole world. Various ideas are being produced and implementation efforts are being made to identify, measure, reduce and prevent environmental risks arising from human activities around the world. If we look at the banking sector activities in Turkey, it plays an intermediary role between economic development and environmental protection to promote environmentally sustainable and socially responsible investments. Green banking refers to banking activities that will help reduce carbon emissions and carbon footprint in such areas. With increasing global concerns about environmental protection, climate change and sustainable development, policymakers and researchers have recently been focusing on green financing. In our study in this field, we will examine the knowledge levels of industrial companies about the concept of sustainability, green finance knowledge and green finance products. The aim of this study is to learn the knowledge, experience and thoughts of Aydın industrial zone manufacturer companies on sustainability, green investment, green finance and green finance products. The research covers various manufacturing sector companies operating in the organized industrial zone in Aydın province and its districts. During the research process, manufacturing companies in the region were reached. Study data were collected through face-to-face interviews, and the interview questionnaire was prepared by the researcher based on the literature. The questionnaire consists of 22 questions aiming to measure the knowledge levels of demographic data, sustainability, green investments, green finance and green finance products regarding industrial companies. Within the framework of the current study, primarily the interviews were documented and transferred to a Microsoft Word file. Then, each interview was read through the MaxQda 2024 Pro program and codes were created from the contexts frequently mentioned by the participants. After the code creation process was completed, codes that were thought to be related to each other were assigned to higher categories and a similar process was created for these categories, creating main themes. Thus, the theme category and code process has been completed. As a result of the study, it is seen that the participating companies are interested in various areas such as sustainability, protection of natural resources, environmentally friendly practices, use of renewable energy and waste management. However, difficulties such as economic uncertainties, resource depletion and foreign dependency encountered in this process make companies think. For companies, sustainability practices provide significant economic benefits such as reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Green finance and renewable energy projects play a critical role in helping companies achieve their sustainability goals. However, the fact that the concept of green finance is not well known among companies and the lack of information on this subject creates difficulties in financing sustainability projects.