Net zero ambitions abounded during the Finance Day of the COP 26 Presidency Programme in Glasgow on Wednesday, with a Mark Carney-led alliance touting a $130tn headline figure, but critics questioned whether such pledges are sufficient.
NN Investment Partners’ green bond offering has this year been boosted by an increase in sovereign activity, while social developments may have opened a gap in the market, according to Douglas Farquhar, client portfolio manager for green bonds, NN IP, even if its reservations about sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) persist.
Moody’s has raised its full-year forecast for sustainable bond issuance on the back of record volumes globally in the first half of the year, and now expects 2021 supply of labelled use-of-proceeds bonds and sustainability-linked bonds to approach $1tn.
In a “compelling message” to its peers, Benin this month became the first African country to issue an SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) bond, a €500m transaction that was some three years in the making and which enabled the country to achieve a large greenium.
Jyske Realkredit published the first Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM) Label harmonised disclosure template yesterday (Thursday), with the EMF-ECBC hailing the move as supportive of preferential treatment for green mortgages as the EBA and European Commission move ahead with regulation.
From oil and gas companies escaping exclusion via sustainability-linked bonds, to sovereigns offering greater liquidity via green bonds, Actiam head of fixed income Mehdi Abdi is heartened by key developments in sustainable bonds – although issuers may find him increasingly picky.
The first update to the Green Bond Principles (GBP) since 2018 was issued on Thursday, including formalising recommendations that bond frameworks and external reviews be used, and a recommendation of heightened transparency around issuer-level sustainability aims.
Eika Boligkreditt sold its first green bond on Tuesday, with the green element and a defensive approach contributing to a successful outcome in an uncertain market, according to an official at the Norwegian issuer, whose framework tackles taxonomy alignment and reflects green progress in the Eika Alliance.
Belfius inaugurated a green bond framework last Tuesday with a €500m six year senior non-preferred (SNP) issue and achieved a “greenium” of several basis points, according to lead bankers, as banks took advantage of strong demand for green bonds to tap the euro market for SNP and Tier 2.
The green bond market urgently needs a common framework for use of proceeds and impact reporting, according to a Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) survey, which found the nature of reporting so far to be “totally fragmented”, even if post-issuance reporting itself is now widespread.
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