Sustainability claims in finance are tested on the customer's screen. How fintech teams can design green products that are clear, verifiable and credible.
For years, sustainability in finance lived in annual reports and board discussions. Now it reaches customers directly: a card labelled eco-friendly, a deposit described as green, financing for solar panels or an electric car, an app that estimates the carbon footprint of last month's spending.
That changes the question. It is no longer enough for an institution to be committed to sustainability in its strategy. The customer has to understand what makes a product green and be able to check it. That is as much a design problem as a financial one.
Why the Question Has Reached Saudi Finance
In 2021 Saudi Arabia announced a target of net zero emissions by 2060 under the Saudi Green Initiative, as the Crown Prince announced at its first forum. Capital markets moved too. In October 2022 the Public Investment Fund issued its first green bond, raising 3 billion dollars in three tranches, including a 100-year tranche of 500 million dollars, with orders more than eight times the amount on offer, as Argaam reported. In March 2024 the Ministry of Finance published the Kingdom's Green Financing Framework, which sets out eight categories of projects eligible for green bonds and sukuk, including renewable energy, clean transport and climate adaptation, in line with the International Capital Market Association's Green Bond Principles.
Those are signals at the level of large institutions, but the effect reaches products for individuals and small businesses. Banks and fintech companies launch products described as green, and customers compare them inside their apps. Whoever offers these products needs to explain what sits behind the label, not just display it.
Regulators elsewhere are also tightening rules on vague environmental claims. In the United Kingdom, the Financial Conduct Authority's anti-greenwashing rule took effect in May 2024 and requires sustainability claims to be correct, clear and fair. The direction is the same everywhere: an environmental promise has to be provable.
Sustainability is a long commitment, and customers judge it by the experience in their hands.
A green claim earns trust when customers can check it for themselves.
Where Green Claims Win or Lose Trust
Greenwashing does not need an outright lie. A vague label, a leaf icon and a green colour scheme with no explanation are enough. In our work on digital products, an experience wins or loses customer trust in a few specific places:
The label. "Green" on its own says nothing. Tie it to a clear standard: what this product finances, and who verifies it.
The numbers. A carbon estimate for purchases is an estimate, not a measurement. Present it as one, name the source of the factors behind it, and avoid false precision such as three decimal places.
Layers of disclosure. One clear line on the first screen, a detail page for those who want more, then the full document. Nobody should have to read a report to understand a product.
Defaults. Switching statements to digital by default is reasonable, but explain it and leave an easy way back.
Eligibility. For solar or electric-vehicle financing, customers should see the conditions before they fill in the form, not after the application is declined.
Where a Fintech Team Can Start
This does not need a large programme. Start with an inventory of every sustainability claim in the product: copy, icons, colours and notifications. Next to each one, write the evidence it rests on and who owns it inside the organization, whether the sustainability team or compliance. Anything without evidence gets rewritten or removed.
Then test understanding rather than appeal. Ask a few customers to explain, in their own words, what makes the product green. If their answers differ, the problem is the design, not the customer. After launch, measure behaviour: how many customers opened the detail page, how many reversed the default, and what questions reached customer service.
Sustainability is a long commitment, and customers judge it by the experience in their hands. If you are working on a green financial product, this is the kind of work we support through our digital products services.
