report

The Australian Conservation Foundation has just released a useful new report, "Funding the transition to a clean energy economy" (see http://goo.gl/AGPdQ).

An interesting “Financing Energy Efficiency Retrofits in Buildings” discussion paper recently released in Madrid argues that a significant expansion of energy efficiency retrofits can be driven by a model that employs:

-       Standardized contracts adopted by a wide variety of loan originators, such as banks, utilities, ESCOs and other retail outlets.

-       A re-financing fund that agrees to buy loans using the standardized contract (thus driving adoption). The fund then taps the wholesale financing markets.

In a chapter for a new IFR Intelligence Report on Sustainable Banking, Sean Kidney, Christopher Flensborg, Alex Veys and Bryn Jones argue that the nascent environmental theme bond market heralds the arrival of a major class of theme bonds (climate bonds), as ins

A discussion paper released today by the Climate Bonds Initiative reviews experiences with State infrastructure banks in Europe and the US. The paper says that there are a wide range of financial engineering options that a Green Infrastructure Bank could use to to leverage public funds to support an increased flow of private investment into clean energy and climate change mitigation projects.

Commissioned by the UK Conservative Party, the report outlines the need and proposed risk mitigation role of a new Green Investment Bank, and how it would raise and invest funds. It includes an explanation of how Green Bonds could be used to fund the Bank and its activities.