Climate Bonds Blog

By guest blogger “Corporate Bonder”The global bond market is huge. Data from the Bank for International Settlements shows that the total size of the global debt securities market (domestic and international securities) was $99.5 trillion as at June 2011, of which $89.9 trillion were notes and bonds. Governments accounted for $43.7 trillion of outstanding debt securities, financial organizations $43.8 trillion, corporations $11.0 trillion and international organizations $1.0 trillion.

> The European Investment Bank is a hero bank - it's the world's largest clean energy lender - but they have a dark side that uses cheap public money to build new coal-fired power stations. It's policy lunacy because it means the EU's bank is undercutting EU emissions reduction targets (let alone the world's).

1. Did you hear that China raised its 2015 solar energy target from 10 to 15 GWp just before Christmas? They have around 3 GWp now, and they'd already raised their target to 10GWp after the Japanese nuclear disaster. In contrast, Germany has 25 GWp of installed solar. China is likely to direct banks to offer cheap finance, although there have been indications of a debt market beginning.

It's midnight; I'm bobbing around in a kayak on Sydney Harbour, with 1.5 million people crowded on to the foreshores around me, watching the world's biggest New Year's fireworks spell out "welcome" in 16 languages.