Leadership by international financial organisations was recognised at the inaugural Green Bond Pioneer Awards held tonight (February 3) in partnership with the London Stock Exchange. Responsible Investor was the media partner for the Awards.
Among the winners were Swedish real estate firm Vasakronan, German mortgage bank Berlin Hyp and the French region of the Ile De France along with Hannon Armstrong, the US energy efficiency and renewable energy specialist and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB).
Also honored were Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the European Investment Bank and the World Bank as well as the Peoples Bank of China, the Agricultural bank of China and India’s Yes Bank (full list below).
The awards come as ratings agency Moody’s said green bond issuance could reach a record $50bn this year. The awards highlight pioneer organisations that have demonstrated the potential of green bonds and “by positive example” have called investors, governments and business to action. At a pre-Awards seminar, Sean Kidney, CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative, said he expected RMB30-60bn of green bonds would be issued in China alone in 2016 from four main banks, two of which have gained accreditation and two that are in the application stage. Kidney said the Chinese government was one of four countries that was also considering green bond sovereign issuance. Link to RI’s coverage of current Chinese green bond issuance
Kidney said the Green Bond Award recipients were the pioneers of the market: “They are organisations at the forefront of the global financial sector’s response to the investment challenges posed by climate change.”
He said they are “laying new foundations” for the capital flows needed to achieve the commitments within the national climate change plans tabled at COP21.
And he said that beyond each of the leaders in each category were other companies, municipalities, development and commercial banks, all making contributions to developing green bond markets: “They also are to be congratulated.”“We acknowledge the leading organisations now, because of the fundamental role capital markets must play to address our climate and sustainability challenges,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, the UN’s climate change chief, in a video address to the event.
The event was supported by the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the UNEP Inquiry, the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) and PwC.