Nordic Investment Bank issues a EUR40m ($55m), 5yr AAA 'environmental' bond

The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) this week issued a 5 year, EUR40 million ($55m), floating rate note, part of their ongoing "Environmental Bond" programme. This is the fifth bond they've issued under this program, with just under $500m worth of NIB Environmental Bonds currently outstanding.

 

NIB is an international financial institution owned by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. It finances private and public sector projects that "improve competitiveness and the environment" of the Nordic and Baltic countries. The bank's S&P credit rating is AAA.

According to NIB's web site, proceeds of the bond go to projects meeting NIB's environmental sustainability criteria, "such as" those that:

  • reduce emissions (mainly CO2, SOx, NOx, dust, heavy metals and dioxins) through energy efficiency, renewable energy, public transport solutions and recycling;
  • reduce polluting discharges to water by improving wastewater treatment and cutting down pollutant runoff from agriculture.
  •  

You can see a sample of projects funded on their website, and they publish a page on their environmental lending criteria. That's useful disclosure, although to help investors compare apples with apples it would be great if they could confirm that their criteria are aligned with industry definitions - either the Climate Bonds Standard or perhaps those of the main development banks.

 

The other good measure NIB have taken is that funds raised through the Environmental Bond will be held in a separate portfolio until they are disbursed to eligible projects.

Underwriter was Credit Agricole.