Featured

GSS Länder bonds tackle environmental, social missions

A pre-summer bout of green, social and sustainability issuance from Germany’s federal states highlighted their burgeoning activity in the market as well as the environmental and social tasks they face. Representatives of the five Länder to have issued GSS bonds spoke to Sustainabonds’ Neil Day about their rationale for entering the market, what make their frameworks distinctive, and how their issuance is evolving in light of market and regulatory developments.

Featured

Green/ESG CP: Pioneering steps

The expansion of green, social and sustainable or sustainability-linked formats into short term instruments has the potential to boost overall volumes and impact, and pioneers have already begun testing appetite in the commercial paper market. However, the sector’s intrinsic characteristics raise questions over how to best exploit its potential. In this special Sustainabonds report, sponsored by ABN AMRO, Neil Day explores experience to date and asks what could catalyse growth.

Featured

Sustainability-linked bonds go mainstream

Issuers lacking projects appropriate to use-of-proceeds green bonds but with clear sustainability targets and transition strategies are increasingly finding sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) a viable alternative for reflecting their ESG ambitions in the capital markets. In this special report, sponsored by ABN AMRO, Sustainabonds’ Neil Day explores the surge in issuance and finds out what issuers need to be doing to win over investors.

Green

Vdp sets minimum standards for Green Pfandbriefe

The Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (vdp) has set minimum standards for issuance to be eligible for the Green Pfandbrief/Grüner Pfandbrief trademark, aligning it with initiatives such as the Green Bond Principles and the draft EU sustainable finance taxonomy and Green Bond Standard.

Deals

MünchenerHyp to add E to ESG as green loans bear fruit

Four years after launching the first ever sustainable covered bond, MünchenerHyp is preparing to launch a benchmark Ecological ESG Pfandbrief, with a green retail loan it launched in 2015 enabling it to be the first German issuer to include residential mortgages in its use of proceeds.

Deals

KBC HoldCo green debut outdoes conventionals as market ripens

KBC joined the green bond market with a more than thrice-subscribed EUR500m debut on Wednesday, to give green financing power to its clients, according to a KBC official. The senior HoldCo deal was also priced with a substantially smaller premium than recent conventional supply despite markets having been choppy.