BDO India, Emergent Ventures India (EVI), Zhongcai Green Financing and the Carbon Trust are the latest verifiers approved to certify bonds against the Climate Bonds Standard.
What’s it all about?
2015 saw a marked increase in the geographic diversity of green bond issuances.
Building on this momentum in 2016, verifiers who already have a strong presence in their local markets are coming forward to be Approved Verifiers for the Climate Bonds Standard.
What role do Verifiers Play?
Verifiers play a vital role in the Climate Bonds Standards process. Issuers contract approved verifiers to perform environmental due–diligence on bonds they wish to be certified under the Climate Bonds Standard.
The verifier provides an independent assurance report to determine the eligibility of the bond against the standard. The Climate Bonds Standards Advisory Board* reviews this assurance report.
Who are the new four?
Emergent Ventures India (EVI), BDO India, Zhongcai Green Financing Consultants Ltd and the Carbon Trust are the latest to join our list of Approved Verifiers and offer their services to prospective green bond issuers seeking Climate Bonds Certification.
BDO India and EVI are based in India, Zhongcai Green Financing in China and the Carbon Trust in the UK.
Tell me more about them
EVI
Emergent Ventures India (EVI) provides public and private sector consulting and assurance services across the spectrum of sustainable development issues in India and Southeast Asia.
Jatin Kapoor Head of Business Development:
“It is an exciting time for the green bond market in India- with around USD 1.1bn worth of green bonds issued by Indian companies last year. EVI is delighted to become an approved Verifier under the Climate Bonds Standard & Certification Scheme”
“We see climate bonds as an important means to access international capital markets required for sustainable development of the country’s infrastructure”
BDO India
BDO India
is an accounting and advisory practice with many clients active in the Indian debt capital market. It is ideally placed to stimulate the Indian green bond market.
BDO India’s Rupesh Agarwal (Partner- Energy) says:
“We’re very pleased to become an Approved Climate Bonds Verifier and look forward to supporting our clients as they enter the green bond market in India.”
“Certification is an important aspect of Cleantech finance and provides high levels of confidence to investors, arrangers and other players in the capital markets.”
Zhongcai Green Financing Consultants 北京中财绿融咨询
Zhongcai Green Financing Consultants Ltd has emerged as the commercial arm of the Research Center for Climate and Energy Finance (RCCEF), based at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing.
They have significant experience in the Chinese green bond market and policy research.
Xu Nan, Senior Policy Analyst at RCCEF:
“The green bonds market is growing quickly in China and Zhongcai Green Financing is pleased to be one of the first market participants.”
“On the basis of continuing studies and certification/verification, we will keep contributing to developing a Green Bond market in China and globally”
The Carbon Trust
The Carbon Trust‘s certification arm works with hundreds of organisations around the world, helping them to better understand their environmental impacts and robustly demonstrate sustainability achievements. Their certifications focus on reductions in carbon emissions and improving resource efficiency, including water use and waste output.
Morgan Jones, Associate Director of Certification:
“The global transition to a low carbon economy is going to require very significant amounts of capital. To make this money available it is going to be critical to engage with the financial sector and develop investment products that have a genuine impact on climate change.”
“Independent verification of bonds to external standards is a real step forward in this process, so we are pleased to be working with the Climate Bonds Initiative to help advance this important new area.”
Climate Bonds CEO Sean Kidney:
“The momentum for green bonds in India and China is strong, and it’s great to see specialist service providers step into this market. The UK is also developing as a global financial centre for green bond issuance and markets.”
“Diversity amongst verifiers is another sign of a deepening market as more issuers seek certification.”
“Certification under the Climate Bonds Standard provides domestic and international investors alike with the confidence that the bond has the environmental credentials they expect.”
The Last Word
These four new approved verifiers brings the total to 18 organisations, with a truly global footprint. We look forward to seeing them working together with leading green bond issuers.
Several more organisations are looking at becoming approved verifiers; watch this space!
*Disclosure: The CBSAB is an Advisory Committee to the Climate Bonds Board.
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 that any individual or organisation makes, nor for investments made by third parties on behalf of an individual or organisation.
