Jan media digest: China, India & echoes of Paris. Green bonds coverage in South China Morning Post, Global Capital, Euromoney and more

Focus: Asia

South China Morning Post, Hong Kong should use its status as an international finance hub to promote climate bonds, Asmita Aarshi

Aarshi encourages Hong Kong’s finance community to up its game when it comes to promoting a low carbon economy through green financing. The Paris Green Bond Statement gets a mention.

For one thing, with its financial sector, world-class universities, entrepreneurial business sector and proximity to China, Hong Kong has the capacity to become an investment centre for climate bonds.”

Worth noting that Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary in his budget last week announced that he would be “exploring issuing green bonds”.

Global Capital, China plants seeds for green bonds with new guidelines, Rev Hui

‘Planting seeds for green bonds’ is a spot on summary of the importance of the new regulations for bank green bond issuance announced by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC – China’s central bank) in December. Read more in an article by Rev Hui.

China has taken first step towards fulfilling its environmental ambitions, unveiling guidelines for issuing green bonds in its interbank bond market.

World Resources Institute, With New Guidelines, China’s Green Bond Market Poised to Take Off in the Year of the Monkey, Shouqing Zhu.

Will the year of the Monkey be a year of green bonds? We certainly think it will. Read a dive-in from Shouqing Zhu reporting for the World Resources Institute blog.

Developers hope that with clear and simple guidelines and criteria, China’s green bond market can get off the ground quickly and efficiently.

SeeNewsRenewables, Did you know China has announced USD 15bn of green bonds in one go?, Sean Kidney

In a blog republished by the SeeNewsRenewables, Sean Kidney provides readers with a dynamic overview of talks at the UN Investor Summit on Climate Risk. At the centre of the climate finance developments is the giant USD 15 bn of green bonds approved for issuance by the China’s central bank.

Back in the Main Hall, Guo Peiyuan of China's Syntao reminded the conference that China's central bank announced last week they've approved two banks to issue CNY 100 billion of green bonds in the domestic market in 2016 - that's USD 15 billion on one approval! And we know there are two further approvals waiting in the queue.

Clean Technica, Indian regulator approves rules to issue, list green bonds, Saurabh Mahapatra 

In January, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) published its final guidelines on the issuance of green bonds. This is news of high importance: in the Indian market - alike to China – it’s the role of the government to become an enabler of growth in the local green bonds market.

It will be mandatory for the issuer to make disclosures including use of proceeds, list of projects to which Green Bond proceeds have been allocated, etc., in the annual report/periodical filings made to the stock exchanges.

SeeNews Renewables, India unveils green bond listing requirementsMilitsa Mancheva

Great news from India also highlighted by the SeeNews Renewables.

According to SEBI, green bonds will constitute an essential part of realising the country’s climate change action plan and that they will gain momentum in 2016.

 

Focus: Market developments

Circle of Blue, 2016 Preview: Investors Will See Tighter Connection Between Water and Climate, Brett Walton

Brett Walton talks of the upcoming release of the new Climate Bonds Standard for Water investments. He says that the financial sector is often only ‘superficially’ aware of the water risk, but this is a useful, new tool for evaluating climate risk of water projects.

“The opportunity to influence private sector investment is huge,” John Matthews, coordinator for the water-climate standard working group, told Circle of Blue. “Technical people already understand the connections, but the finance community has not caught up. We want to connect the finance community with the water community and the climate community and provide coherence across all three areas.”

Global Capital, Climate Bonds Initiative looks to public sector to help green securitization, David Bell

We confirm that, within our policy work stream, we are indeed continuing to work on policy agendas that aim to support green securitization: crucial for both economic recovery and green growth. More in the upcoming report!

A new report from the Climate Bonds Initiative to be published in the first quarter this year, will argue that public sector efforts are required to facilitate the development of a green securitization market in Europe.

Euromoney, CSR: Impact reporting colours green bonds, Catherine Snowdon

New era in investor-issuer relations, VW emissions scandal, impact reporting and Paris Green Bonds Statement: all that in an interesting article from Euromoney!

The developing green bond market has brought with it a new era in investor/issuer relations. Parties on both sides report a level of transparency and cooperation never experienced before. When it comes to impact reporting however, problems remain.

Euromoney, Green bond impact reporting: investor needs and principles, Catherine Snowdon

Another worth-reading article from Euromoney; Catherine Snowdon discusses green bonds impact reporting.

Manuel Lewin, head of sustainable investments at Zurich Insurance, a key player in the green bond market, says the barrier to better reporting is often issuer nervousness.

Environmental Finance, Green bond market ends 2015 on a high as it breaks records, Sophie Robinson-Tillett

An insightful 2015 green bonds developments round up from EF.

A big theme for the year – and one that is slated to continue into 2016 – is pricing. In September, Barclays published a report saying the secondary market for green bonds was seeing investors 'pay up' for labelled notes. Many contested the findings – saying the secondary market is not yet mature enough to draw conclusions about pricings – but some in the primary market, such as HSBC and KfW, also said the green label had prompted better pricing on transactions.

Global Capital, A green bond that really did what it said on the tin, Jon Hay

Although the title suggests that Jon Hay will focus on praising a single bond, the article proves to be more insightful.  With a sceptical eye, he looks at the additionality and real impact of green bonds. He quotes best practice green bond examples that – if picked up by other issuers – could make a real difference to the environment.

Bonds for green projects – including in some cases non-recourse project bonds like WindMW deal – will be vital to greening the economy. Calling them green bond, or climate bonds, can be good branding, and branding works. But more than the label, what matters is the fundamentals. It’s time for green bond investors to move out of their comfort zone, and into project risk.

International Business Times, Green Bonds May Still Save The Climate, But Low Oil Prices Could Hurt Clean Tech, Avaneesh Pandey

Avaneesh Pandey wonders if low oil prices will have a negative impact on investments in green bonds – a topic that came up during World Economic Forum (WEF) discussions.

However, despite the prevailing headwinds renewable energy investments face, a record $41.8 billion worth of green bonds were issued across the world in 2015 — an increase of 13 per cent over 2014. The slump in oil prices has also spared renewables such as solar and wind, which attracted a record $329.3 billion of investment last year.

SeeNews Renewables, Credit Agricole CIB tops Q4 green bond underwriters table, BAML is N1 for 2015

SeeNewsRenewables publishes results of our Q4 Underwriter League Table.

Credit Agricole made it to the top of the green bond underwriters table in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the year, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) takes the crown for 2015.

Sunday Business Report, Gaelectric Holdings to issue €10 million green bond as Dublin's ISI Centre partners with London's Climate Bond Initiative

An article in the Sunday Business Report highlights two important pieces of Ireland-born news: first-ever Irish green bond and a partnership of Ireland’s International Sustainability and Investment Centre (ISI Centre) with the Climate Bonds Initiative.

Stephen Nolan, the chief executive of the ISI Centre, said that the partnership was a chance for Ireland to explore the way to use the proceeds of green bonds to support Ireland’s enterprise sector.

Environmental Finance, Ireland set for first green bond, Sophie Robinson-Tillett

Environmental Finance also highlighted Ireland’s first green bond and the Climate Bonds & ISI Centre partnership.

This week, Ireland's International Sustainability and Investment Centre – created by the government to boost sustainable and responsible investment and financial services – formed a partnership with the Climate Bonds Initiative to help develop a green bond market in the country.

SeeNewsRenewables, Gaelectric issues EUR-10m green bond, Ireland's firstPlamena Tisheva

"With a strong working relationship in Ireland between the private sector and government, Ireland is perfectly positioned to demonstrate to the world how to make green finance serve the agenda of the transition to a low-carbon economy," Sean Kidney, chief executive of the Climate Bonds Initiative said at a seminar on green bonds in Dublin.