From the abstract:
We study contractual features and lenders’ motivations for offering Green mortgages, used to finance energy-efficient properties, in the United Kingdom. There is significant heterogeneity in benefits: preferential-rate mortgages offer 9bp discounts, while the benefits are substantially lower for products with upfront cashback. Our evidence shows that the green label functions as a tool for product differentiation and customer acquisition, with lenders tailoring product features around borrower heterogeneity. In particular, we show that they use upfront cashback as a salient pricing feature of credit contracts to target liquidity-constrained homebuyers. We find no evidence that the financial benefits reflect lower credit risk.
