Climate Bonds Blog

Posted: Feb 18, 2014

The webinar today - Tues 18 Feb @1pm EST/6pm GMT - is hosted by "AsYouSow.org".

Three of us will be talking:

  • Sean Kidney, CEO, Climate Bonds Initiative.
  • Colin MacNaught, Assistant Treasurer for Debt Management, Massachusetts State Treasurer’s Office.
  • Evelyn Hartwick, Associate Financial Officer, International Finance Corporation.

If you're interested, join at Green Bonds: Trailblazing Issuers Accelerating the Low Carbon Economy webinar.

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Events: Green Bonds webinar in 17hrs, 18 Feb @1pm EST, hosted by AsYouSow.org / CSFI London Climate Bonds lunch Mon 24 Feb / Uni Edinburgh Climate Bonds public lecture Tues 25 Feb
Posted: Feb 16, 2014

We've heard that EIB has just done a SEK900m tap, taking the amount of this 2019 maturing bond to SEK3bn ($466m) in total. Buyers were Swedish institutional investors. No further details yet, except that SEB was the underwriter.

(BTW, in my earlier email about the NIB EUR40m bond I mistakenly noted SEB as the underwriter - an error - I meant to say Credit Agricole CIB. This EIB SEK bond is the SEB one.)

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Anne Simpson of CalPRS, at last month's UN Investor Summit on Climate Risk, warning that catastrophic climate change will be a disaster for investors:

EIB does SEK900m tap of 2019 climate bond / Ban Ki Moon plugs climate bonds / Is public transport green?
Posted: Feb 16, 2014

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.

 

Nordic Investment Bank issues a EUR40m ($55m), 5yr AAA 'environmental' bond
Posted: Feb 6, 2014

By Bridget Boulle, Climate Bonds Initiative. Prepared for Responsible-Investor.com

2013 has been a big year for green and climate bonds - it was the year that everyone started talking about them. It was the year that totals outstanding of explicitly green “labelled” bonds doubled, the issuer list diversified and investors in both the mainstream and ESG/SRI markets became interested. Here is short overview of developments.

2013 Overview: the Dawn of an Age of Green Bonds?
Posted: Jan 28, 2014

PARIS - Dr Michael Molitor, Kristian Brüning and Dr Alex Rau today join the Climate Bonds team to support a newly convened supervisory Climate Science Advisory Committee, supervising eligibility criteria for the Climate Bond Standards.

 

A Climate Science Reference Framework will anchor the Climate Bonds Taxonomy and Climate Bond Standards to projections of needed emission reductions and adaptation measures from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and internationally respected climate science research centres.

Dr Michael Molitor, Kristian Brüning and Dr Alex Rau join Climate Bonds team to support new Climate Science Advisory Committee supervising criteria for Climate Bond Standards
Posted: Jan 27, 2014

PARIS - Climate Bonds today announced a timetable for the release of eligibility criteria under the Climate Bond Standards and Certification Scheme. Eligibility criteria are used to determine what assets can be linked to Green Bonds and Climate Bonds.

 

Criteria are drafted by domain expert committees drawn up from internationally recognized agencies. Once drafted, criteria are subject to public consultation periods before final approval by the Climate Bond Standards Advisory Board*. Criteria are then published online as a public resource.

Timetable announced for release of new certification criteria for Climate Bonds - Green Buildings, Low-Carbon Transport, Geothermal, Biofuels, Water and more coming soon
Posted: Jan 25, 2014

The European Commission’s Directorate-General of Climate Action has commissioned a project to look at what Europe’s role should be in "shifting private finance towards climate-friendly Investments" – both within the EU and internationally.

As their brief says:

New Climate Bonds & friends project for European Commission’s Climate Directorate, looking at "Europe’s role in shifting private finance to climate investments", kicked off today in Brussels
Posted: Jan 23, 2014

OTTAWA - Export Development Canada (EDC) today issued it's first green bond. They received $300 million of orders within 15 minutes of opening the books, with $500 million of orders on the books before they stopped. Brilliant result!

 

EDC is Canada's export credit agency; the USD300 million bond is for "loans that will preserve, protect or remediate air, water or soil, or help mitigate climate change". Third party review was by CICERO, at the University of Oslo in Norway.

First new issuer of 2014! ExportDevCanada issues USD300m AAA green bond - sold out in 15 mins! / Reminder: Climate Bonds seminar in Paris on Tues. 120 people coming, but we still have seats
Posted: Jan 23, 2014

Media release

London 23 January 2014 - The Climate Bonds Initiative today released its Green Climate Bonds Underwriters League Table for 2013.

Some $10 billion of Green Climate Bonds were issued in 2013, the biggest year yet, and one which saw new issuers, investors and underwriters join the market.

Green Bond Underwriters League Table released for 2013, $10 billion - biggest issuance year yet, SEB, BoAML, Morgan Stanley, Credit Agricole and JP Morgan on top.
Posted: Jan 18, 2014

I spent Wednesday sitting in the hallowed halls of the United Nations in New York for the biennual 2014 UN Investor Summit on Climate Risk Summit, hosted by the UN Foundation and Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk (a Climate Bond Standards Board member). This is the preeminent forum for global investors to discuss the implications of climate change for capital markets - investors representing $22 trillion of assets under management were in the room.

UN Investor Summit on Climate Risk in NY: Clean Trillion report launched - bonds galore