Tomorrow, Sean Kidney (Climate Bonds Initiative), Ben Powell (IFC), Björn Lindström (Vasakronan) and Christoffer Flensburg (SEB) will talk green bonds at a seminar in Stockholm organised by Swesif.
Issuers - IFC and Vasakronan – will give a first-hand report of their experiences with benefits of issuing a green bond compared to an ordinary bond; the processes to ensure the green credentials of their bonds, and the types of projects they financed with the proceeds.
By Tess Olsen-Rong, Climate Bonds Market Analyst
Following a landmark green bond growth year in 2013, the labelled green bond market has once again experienced a year of incredible growth in 2014: by year-end there had been $36.6bn of green bonds issued by 73 different issuers – that’s more than a tripling of the market! The final figure was boosted by a late flurry of green municipal bonds.
We're blogging so frequently nowadays we're worried about overwhelming your inboxes - so we're shifting to a weekly roundup format. Let us know how it's working. Of course if something amazing comes out we'll still do a special email.
..... Supranational green bonds
Huge retail demand for World Bank’s latest offering increases size from $15m to $91m in 3 days, 7 yr tenor AAA
Green municipal bonds are set to take off in 2015 after a flurry of issuances in the latter half of 2014. With interest rates at an all time low, this is the time to finance the vast backlog of infrastructure upgrades and developments needed – and to green that infrastructure. This, according to the Financial Times, is especially so in the US.
Marianne Gut, Portfolio manager at the Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) is the winner of the 2014 year-end green bonds quiz. She was the only player to score 100% at the first take of the quiz. Marianne becomes our "Climate Bonds Boffin 2014"! She wins a lifetime subscription to the Climate Bonds blog, lucky thing.
Now the rest of us just have to see how our scores compared to others - see below.
Earlier this month Peruvian wind energy producer Energia Eolica SA (an indirect subsidiary of Contour Global) issued a $204m green project bond with a coupon of 6% and 20 year tenor. The deal achieved BBB- (investment grade) rating from Fitch. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were the deal underwriters.
How much do you really know about the explosive growth of the green bonds market this year?
Take the 2014 Climate Bond quiz to find out now
In early November Department de L’Essonne, a French municipality that is part of Ile-de-France, issued an inaugural green bond to fund low carbon transport and green building projects. The EUR 40m (US$50m) private placement has a 14.5 year tenor and 2.083% coupon. S&P and Fitch rated the bond AA- and AA respectively. Credit Agricole CIB was the sole underwriter for the bond.
The public university green bonds follow Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) green bond in September this year. MIT’s offering was the first ever by a US university.
In September at the UN Climate Summit Barclays Bank announced it would invest a minimum of £1 billion in green bonds by November 2015 to form part of its liquid asset buffer – one of the largest such investments by a bank.
They've now also become a Climate Bonds Partner.
Kirsty Britz, Group Director for Citizenship at Barclays, said:
