Silicon Valley Bank provided financing for over 1,550 clients working on climate technology and sustainability, according to its website. As of December 2021, SVB had committed $3.2 billion to such projects. The bank also claimed to have led or participated in 62% of community solar financings, as of last March. 

Dajani said many of her clients banked with SVB and that "despite having their money restored" there is a feeling of skittishness after the failure of the bank.

Long-term, she said the failure of SVB could mean some smaller start-up climate technology companies could be cut off from credit lines if no other bank or entity takes on the SVB portfolio.

While larger "clean tech" companies will likely take their business to larger banks, Dajani said smaller companies and start-ups may have a harder time meeting what will likely be stricter standards for loans, possibly leading to a "slight chilling effect" in the industry.

Kiran Bhatraju, founder and CEO of Arcadia, a tech company focused on combating climate change, expressed concern over the downfall of SVB on Twitter Saturday, writing, "What's missing from the narrative is SVB is a climate bank."

"They were strong supporters [of] innovators in decarbonization and clean energy infrastructure - financing nearly 60%+ of the community solar market - alongside companies like Sunrun, Vivint, AES, and Bloom," Bhatraju continued. "Arcadia is fine, and will be fine through this. But my hope for our industry and planet is someone makes sure funds continue to flow on Monday."

"A point that seems to be getting lost in the conversation around SVB is the failure of the San Francisco Fed to monitor the risks that were growing at Silicon Valley Bank," Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, tweeted Sunday night. "It is abundantly clear that SVB was terribly mismanaged. Their executives appeared to be more focused on diversity and ESG than managing their own risks. But why didn't the SF Fed see this before it was too late? Was it because their CEO was on the board of directors of the SF Fed? Or were these regulators just asleep at the wheel? We need answers."

Banks that utilize ESG policies consider those aspects when evaluating risk and opportunities, and many banks have some version of these policies in place, including Bank of America, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and others.