Climate Bonds Blog

Posted: Aug 1, 2011

The newsletter “Asset-Backed Alert” carried a story on Friday suggesting that the US is about to see a revival of PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) municipal bonds, securitizing clean-energy loans to households.

Are PACE bonds about to come back in the US?
Posted: Jul 29, 2011

The Climate Bonds Initiative announced today an expansion to the scope and intent of the Climate Bond Standard slated for release at the end of July 2011.

The first release of the Standard will now cover not only corporate bonds, but also project development bonds and bonds issued by securitization vehicles.

Climate Bond Standard expanded to include more bond types, released next week
Posted: Jul 25, 2011

CalSTRS Joins Climate Bonds Standards Board to Boost Green Debt Capital Market

Goal to assure integrity of green claims for investors, governments.

Giant US pension fund joins Climate Bond Standards Board
Posted: Jul 23, 2011
Kidney in Oz papers; Sinovel $900m wind bond;
Posted: Jul 11, 2011

The Australian Government announced on the weekend it will set up a "Clean Energy Finance Corporation" (CEFC) as a statutory body. The initiative is part of a large package of climate change finance measures, including a long-awaited carbon tax.

Australia to set up $10bn Clean Energy Finance Corp +renewables fund +biodiversity fund
Posted: Jul 8, 2011
4 new clean energy bonds
Posted: Jul 8, 2011

So you have some context for the news we post about climate and green bonds, here are some amazing facts about the bond market.

1. Global bonds outstanding in 2010 = $95 trillion. That's a big market. Global equity market capitalization in 2010 = $55 trillion

2. The bond market equals 130% of global GDP, up from only 80% 10 years ago. Equities used to be the bigger of the two, but the great financial crash has seen those positions reversed.

(All facts are courtesy of CityUK's new report on the bond market. They're a great source of data!)

5 great bond market facts: $95 trillion, 130% of GDP + more
Posted: Jul 5, 2011

Goal to Assure Integrity of Green Claims for Investors, Governments

Australia’s Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC), representing institutional investors, with total funds under management of approximately $600 billion, today announced that it is joining the International Climate Bond Standards Board. The Standards Board is supervising a program to provide investors and governments an easy way to assess the integrity of environmental claims for green bonds.

'Investor Group on Climate Change' Joins International Board Developing Standards for Climate Bonds
Posted: Jun 13, 2011

1. Climate Bonds Standard text delayed until July.

We're running late.  We had planned to release the first version of the new Climate Bonds Standard text in May, after addressing issues raised in our public consultation phase. But we're still addressing comments on areas such as balance sheet reporting requirements for corporate Climate Bonds, on referencing - or not - other governance or environmental standards, and on the nature of sanctions for non-compliance. The release is now scheduled for the early to mid July. Thank you for your patience.

2. We welcome 3 new members of the Climate Bonds Advisory Panel from Turkey, NZ and Canada:

Update: Standard out July + new Adv Panel from Turkey, NZ, Canada
Posted: Jun 13, 2011

1. BofA Merrill Lynch announced this week that it would offer World Bank (WB) green bonds to its wealth management clients.  The model is reminiscent of Nikko AM's World Bank Green Bond offerings for Japanese and EU retail buyers. By far the largest slice of retail interest in green bonds has been Japan, where we think total green-themed "Uridashi" outstanding will hit the $1 billion mark within the year. The ten year WB bonds sold through BofA ML will pay a 3.5 percent coupon for the first year that switches to a floating three-month USD-Libor based coupon after one year.

BofA Merrill retails WB green bonds; US considers $3bn forest conservation bonds