The Green City Bonds Coalition is a new project to promote the growth of global green muni market for, yes you guessed it, Green City Bonds.
The bulk of the world’s growth in the next 30 years will take place in cities. To avoid catastrophic climate change it’s essential that growth is green. That will involve new means of finance for the bulk of the world’s cities that don’t currently borrow, and supportive green finance for developed cities going green. We need to view the world not so much as a collection of countries as a network of cities and their surrounds.
The aim of the Coalition is to grow the use of green bonds to finance green city projects in both developed countries and emerging markets. Green City bonds can be general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, utility bonds or even project and corporate bonds — if the proceeds are going to a green city investment. (For guidance about what are green investments, see the Climate Bonds Taxonomy.)
So far we are working on launches in the US, Scandinavia, India and China; we will be running webinars and seminars; and arranging for experienced municipal issuers to share their knowledge with new issuers.
The initial members of our USA coalition are C40, NRDC, CDP and As You Sow. But that's just the beginning.
Next week we're holding a roundtable meeting for organisations who would like to get involved, including investors, investment banks and potential issuers. Come along and find out more.
When: Thursday 12 February 2015, 14:00-16.30
Venue: New York City Comptroller’s Office (have a look before you come at their proposal to issue a green bond), One Centre Street, Manhattan. There are lots of subways nearby; the 4-5-6 train Brooklyn Bridge stop is directly below the building.
For security, please RSVP to: info@climatebonds.net.
It's a roundtable with 25 people only, so RSVP now. A teleconference line will also be available on request.
