Project Goal: provide microcredit loans for various projects, including eco-friendly solar lamps
Project volume: around 80 million euros ($103,534,000) in microcredit loans already granted
Project size: almost 6,000 workers

When the sun goes down on Mindoro Island in the Philippines, villages are plunged into complete darkness. People here have no access to electricity, and generators are too expensive, so solar lamps present an affordable and eco-friendly alternative. Farmers and fishers on Mindoro can obtain micro-credit loans from the Filipino bank CARD to buy the lamps. Local store owners who sell the lamps are seeing a big boost in their profits. They're also participating in seminars to learn how to invest their earnings and improve their businesses. The solar lamp project has been so successful that CARD is now developing more eco-friendly products to offer through micro-credit loans, including solar-powered stoves.

A film by Birgit Maaß

El Salvador is well-known for its majestic, powerful volcanoes. The hot, steaming lava that bubbles just under the earth’s surface serves the country well. Water is pumped 1,200 meters into the hot earth to power steam water turbines in geothermal power plants. Through this process, El Salvador generates about a fourth of its electricity – no CO2 emissions involved. Now, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GiZ) is helping the country develop its geothermal potential even further. Engineers are demonstrating how geothermal energy can be used on a micro level, like in small businesses.

Melting ice caps, catastrophic hurricanes, floods and drought plunging entire regions into a water crisis. These are the drastic images often associated with climate change. But what's actually being done on the ground to halt global warming? What kind of projects are helping to reduce emissions, inform people and spur them to change their lifestyles?

Each week GLOBAL IDEAS visits a new destination and reports on a new project, so check back often.