LIVE: Moroccan Certified Climate Bond! 1bn Dirham & a flurry of firsts to get COP22 underway: First Moroccan Green Bond, First African Certified Climate Bond, First Green Bond of COP22!

 

I'm coming to you live from Casablanca Climate Finance Day 2016: where I'm watching Mustapha Bakkoury, Chairman of Masen (Moroccan Agency of Sustainable Energy S.A.) announce in a keynote the successful placement of their first, Climate Bonds Certified, 1 billion dirham (USD 117 million) bond.

As Morocco prepares to take the reins of international climate diplomacy, Masen have demonstrated that Morocco can also lead in green finance. This is the first Certified Climate Bond out of Africa, Morocco’s first green bond and the first bond verified under the Climate Bonds Standard by Vigeo Eiris.

That’s quite an impressive list of firsts!

 


Mustapha Bakkoury, Masen Chairman, announcing their first Climate Bonds Certified placement.

 

Bond Particulars

This 18 year treasury bond was certified using the Climate Bonds Standard with assets and projects deemed eligible under the Solar Criteria.

Use of proceeds will go to financing utility-scale solar power facilities in Morocco, with first deployment of funds occurring in 2017.  Three projects totaling around 160 MW of solar PV are expected to commence operation in 2018.

As always, we are especially happy to see such a rigorous reporting commitment. Annual reporting will include:

  • Installed renewable energy capacity (in MW)
  • Annual renewable energy produced (in MWh per year)
  • Annual GHG emissions avoided (in tCO2e)

This is the sort of disclosure we would like to see in all green bonds! 

 

Trailblazing with Solar

Masen is a state owned public limited company created in 2010. It’s charged with implementing solutions for renewable energy production that allow Morocco to reach its 2020 goal of 42% renewable energy.  

As you’d expect in Morocco, solar generation will play a big role in reaching this target and Masen have made the headlines recently with development of their Ouarzazate Solar Power Station. Spread over more than 3,000 hectares and with a planned installed capacity of 580MW by 2018, this will be the largest solar complex in the world.

 

Final Word

As the Conference of Parties move their attention from the National Determined Commitments of COP21, to developing and financing ambitious green infrastructure pipelines, this is the perfect start to COP22. This, and the fact that the Paris Agreement has today entered into force! I look forward to seeing further examples of Moroccan leadership over the next two weeks.

You can be sure I’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest COP22 developments. And if you're lucky enough to be coming to COP over the next two weeks, come and find me at the various events I'm speaking at here.

Sean
     

 

Disclaimer: The information contained in this communication does not constitute investment advice and the Climate Bonds Initiative is not an investment adviser. Links to external websites are for information purposes only. The Climate Bonds Initiative accepts no responsibility for content on external websites.

The Climate Bonds Initiative is not advising on the merits or otherwise of any investment. A decision to invest in anything is solely yours. The Climate Bonds Initiative accepts no liability of any kind for investments any individual or organisation makes, nor for investments made by third parties on behalf of an individual or organisation.