By Kerrey Baker, Managing Director, Shared Interest
Last year, we looked at what it means to invest with purpose, to prioritise fairness and to share risk. As we begin 2026, I want to turn to a theme that sits across all of these values: the climate crisis, and how ethical finance can help communities respond.
The producers we support at Shared Interest are at the frontlines of climate change. From cocoa farmers in West Africa to coffee growers in Latin America, changing weather patterns are already affecting the quality and reliability of harvests. Droughts, flooding and rising temperatures are not future threats. They are current realities for farming communities who rely on the land to survive.
For these producers, access to finance can mean the difference between adapting and collapsing. That might involve investing in water-efficient irrigation, replacing droughtprone crops or building facilities that protect harvests from increasingly erratic rainfall. It might mean planting shade trees or composting organic waste. Small changes that build long-term resilience.
Shared Interest provides the capital that helps make these changes possible. Our lending enables fair trade businesses to prepare, adapt and protect their future. But the need is growing, and the mainstream finance system is not responding fast enough.
Many of the organisations we work with are based in rural areas, have limited collateral and operate in currencies vulnerable to global fluctuations. That makes them unattractive to traditional lenders, despite the critical role they play in global supply chains. Ethical finance exists to bridge that gap. But it requires a shift in thinking from short-term return to long-term impact.
When businesses talk about climate risk, they often refer to the risk to their own operations or supply chains. But there is a broader question here. What happens when the people growing our coffee, our fruit or our chocolate can no longer do so? What is the cost of standing still when the climate is changing around us?
Investing in adaptation is not a luxury. It is a necessity. And for the communities we support, it is also a matter of justice. These are not the people who caused the climate crisis, yet they are among the first to feel its effects. Fair finance gives them the means to respond.
At Shared Interest, we work alongside producers who are already finding solutions rather than waiting for them. With access to finance, they are growing differently, processing more efficiently and finding new ways to safeguard their land and livelihoods.
Fair finance is one of the most powerful tools we have to support climate resilience. It is an investment in people, in communities and in the future of global trade.
Invest in change at www.shared-interest.com
