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Media Release
BlackRock becomes a Climate Bonds Partner
London 10.30am GMT: 2/11/15: In a significant move, global asset manager BlackRock has announced they will join the Climate Bonds Initiative Partnership programme, effective immediately.
Kevin Holt, Co-head of the Americas Fixed Income said:
“There is an increasing demand for innovative, sustainable investment solutions to address climate, carbon and environmental issues. Many investors are demanding more than a financial return for their investments. They want their investments to have a positive social or environmental impact. Green and climate-designated bonds have the potential to play an increasingly important role as investors attempt to meet these demands.
“The Climate Bonds Initiative is taking a leading role in building consensus for Green Bond standards and impact reporting mechanisms. As this market evolves, standardization should help attract investor demand and increase the liquidity of these bonds. We will be working closely with Climate Bonds Initiative, bringing our perspective as one of the largest asset managers in the sector.
“BlackRock is a leader in sustainable investing, managing more than $US200 billion across exclusionary screens, environmental, social and governance (ESG) portfolios, and impact investments. Our Green Bond capabilities are a critical component of our BlackRock Impact platform.”
Climate Bonds CEO Sean Kidney said:
“BlackRock have already been a massive investor in the green bonds space.
“We now have the opportunity to marry BlackRock’s depth of understanding of investor needs and their market reach with the impact knowledge of our 120-organisation strong climate science community to provide reporting tools that make a huge difference to investor understanding and engagement with the green bonds market. This will help that market continue to grow while ensuring capital flows to investments that make a real difference.”
“Corporates, issuers and governments should, and will, see this as an important milestone. A milestone in the growth of institutional investor support for the extraordinary opportunity we have to develop a robust international green bonds market. A market that can be a key means of channeling capital to the low carbon and climate resilient investments we all so urgently need.”
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Notes for Journalists:
About Climate Bonds Initiative: The Climate Bonds Initiative is an investor-focused not-for-profit, promoting large-scale investment in the low-carbon economy. For more information please visit www.climatebonds.net @ClimateBonds
About BlackRock Inc: BlackRock is a global leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services for institutional and retail clients. At June 30, 2015, BlackRock’s AUM was $4.721 trillion. For additional information, please visit www.blackrock.com
Partners Programme: NGOs, banks, institutional investors and governments are eligible to join as Climate Bond Partners to help rapidly grow a market of green and climate bonds. A list of Partners is available here.
Climate Bonds Partners: Develop initiatives to grow investment in climate solutions, participate in different market development committees and help define policy agendas for sector, country & sub-national programs.
For more information, please contact:
Andrew Whiley, Communications Manager, Climate Bonds Initiative +44 (0) 7506 270 943