mortgages

The European energy efficient mortgages initiative – comprising EeMAP and EeDaPP – aims to bring together lenders, builders, utilities and others to create a standardised product to benefit 500 million EU citizens and the planet. Luca Bertalot, secretary general of the EMF-ECBC, which is leading the project, spoke to Sustainabonds ahead of the launch of a pilot phase in June.

Green bonds backed by mortgages might seem a natural source of supply from banks. However, a lack of joined-up data is forcing banks to be creative in carving out pools of energy efficient loans. Neil Day explores the building blocks for a bigger market with ABN AMRO’s Joop Hessels.

SpareBank 1 Bolgikreditt launched the largest single-tranche green bank bond outside China and the first green benchmark covered bond with residential mortgages on Tuesday, a EUR1bn deal made possible by taking building codes and years as a proxy for energy efficiency – a strategy that could be used by others.

The European Commission is “looking positively” at reducing capital charges to boost green loans such as energy efficient mortgages, Valdis Dombrovskis said today (Tuesday). A draft definition for such loans is due in February ahead of an EeMAP pilot phase that could support such a move.

The EMF-ECBC is hoping to gain European Commission support and funding for developing a data protocol that would help optimise its energy efficient mortgages initiative, although a speaker at a plenary meeting of the industry body warned that “the best is the enemy of the good”.

Garanti Bank is placing a TL305m (Eu75m) covered bond with the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD), the Turkish bank announced today (Thursday), with a commitment to use the proceeds to lend green mortgages, in a follow-up to a similar bond placed with the IFC.

Garanti Bank has placed a TL530m (Eu134m, $150m) five year covered bond with International Finance Corporation with a commitment to use half the proceeds to offer green mortgages, making it the first such green-orientated transaction in Turkey, according to the issuer.

An environmental think-tank has suggested that covered bonds backed by renewables could help alleviate a shortage of funding for the greening of the world’s energy resources. Chiara Francavilla explores the issues and challenges surrounding the Climate Bonds Initiative’s proposal.