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Listen "What’s Happening in Sustainable Finance: Market Expectations Rise, Green Bonds Continue to Flourish, and Biodiversity Climbs Up the Agenda"
Episode Synopsis
Episode Summary
Hosts
Nicholas Gandolfo, Director, Corporate Solutions
Aditi Bhatia, Regional Sales Manager, Corporate Solutions
In this episode, Nick and Aditi discuss hot topics in sustainable finance. As the global green, social, sustainable, and sustainability-linked market continues to thrive, our hosts take note of the growing variety in use of proceeds, the debate around sustainability-linked bond penalties, and an eyebrow-raising new SLB issuance from Philip Morris International.
Sustainable Bond Market Reaches Half a Trillion in 2021
The Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) reported that total labelled bond issuances (green, social, sustainability, transition and sustainability-linked) hit the half trillion mark in the first half of the year. That’s a 59% increase compared by 2020. For the green bond market specifically, CBI predicts annual volumes will reach $1 trillion by 2023. Other trends noted in the report are the continued growth of social and sustainability bonds, with social bond volumes quadrupling in H1 and sustainability bonds increasing 20%. The volume of sustainability-linked bonds also continued to soar in 2021. Transition bond issuances, on the other hand, are still struggling to gain traction.
Biodiversity on the Agenda
Nick notes that biodiversity continues to draw the attention of investors and issuers globally, with a growing number of reports and articles on the topic. This year also saw the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP 15, wrapping up in China, and the launch of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures over the summer. In the world of sustainable finance, we think biodiversity-related targets and use of proceeds will likely become more prominent within linked instruments and labeled bond issuances.
Webinar | ESG Risk Rating in APAC: Supporting the Corporate Sustainability Journey
Join us on Tuesday, November 16, to hear from corporate and sustainable finance leaders in the APAC region. Our panelists will share their thoughts on corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings, and provide insight on how they integrate ESG ratings into their investment and sustainable finance activities.
To register for the live event or to watch the replay, click here.
Key Moments
00:02:50
Market overview
00:02:52
CBI report on H1 2021
00:04:36
Tier 2 subordinated debt
00:05:28
Greenwashing debate
00:06:33
SLBs and questions about penalties
00:07:05
Biodiversity
00:08:02
Nuclear
00:09:18
Philip Morris SLB
00:10:06
CBI report on Latin America
00:10:44
CBI annual conference
00:11:53
Green bonds overview
00:21:35
Social loans overview
00:22:58
Green loans overview
00:24:23
SLB overview
00:27:57
Audience questions
00:30:09
SLL overview
00:31:47
Transition bonds overview
Links to Select Resources
Climate Bonds Initiative: Sustainable Debt Highlights H1 2021
Asian Investor: Do Fears of Greenwashing Outweigh the Evidence?
Bloomberg: ESG Financing Comes With Few Penalties for Missing Goals
Environmental Finance: French Financial System 'Significantly Exposed' to Biodiversity Risk
European Scientist: Kazakhstan Banks on Nuclear Energy For Transition to Low-Carbon Future
Climate Bonds Initiative: Latin America & Caribbean: Sustainable Finance State of the Market 2021
Climate Bonds Initiative: Climate Bonds Conference21 Videos
Climate Bonds Initiative: Transition Finance for Transforming Companies discussion paper
Sustainalytics SPOs:
Isle of Man Sustainability Finance Framework Second-Party Opinion
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico Green Financing Framework
Verizon Green Financing Framework
Axis Bank Sustainable Finance Framework Second-Party Opinion
California Housing Finance Agency Social Bond Framework for the Purchase and Financing of Citibank, N.A. Affordable Housing Loans
Bosam Social Bond Framework
Rumo S.A. Sustainability-Linked Finance Framework
Lilly Sustainability Bond Framework
Vodafone Sustainable and Sustainability-Linked Finance Framework Second-Party Opinion
CEMEX Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework Second-Party Opinion
More Episodes
Hosts
Nicholas Gandolfo, Director, Corporate Solutions
Aditi Bhatia, Regional Sales Manager, Corporate Solutions
In this episode, Nick and Aditi discuss hot topics in sustainable finance. As the global green, social, sustainable, and sustainability-linked market continues to thrive, our hosts take note of the growing variety in use of proceeds, the debate around sustainability-linked bond penalties, and an eyebrow-raising new SLB issuance from Philip Morris International.
Sustainable Bond Market Reaches Half a Trillion in 2021
The Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) reported that total labelled bond issuances (green, social, sustainability, transition and sustainability-linked) hit the half trillion mark in the first half of the year. That’s a 59% increase compared by 2020. For the green bond market specifically, CBI predicts annual volumes will reach $1 trillion by 2023. Other trends noted in the report are the continued growth of social and sustainability bonds, with social bond volumes quadrupling in H1 and sustainability bonds increasing 20%. The volume of sustainability-linked bonds also continued to soar in 2021. Transition bond issuances, on the other hand, are still struggling to gain traction.
Biodiversity on the Agenda
Nick notes that biodiversity continues to draw the attention of investors and issuers globally, with a growing number of reports and articles on the topic. This year also saw the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP 15, wrapping up in China, and the launch of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures over the summer. In the world of sustainable finance, we think biodiversity-related targets and use of proceeds will likely become more prominent within linked instruments and labeled bond issuances.
Webinar | ESG Risk Rating in APAC: Supporting the Corporate Sustainability Journey
Join us on Tuesday, November 16, to hear from corporate and sustainable finance leaders in the APAC region. Our panelists will share their thoughts on corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings, and provide insight on how they integrate ESG ratings into their investment and sustainable finance activities.
To register for the live event or to watch the replay, click here.
Key Moments
00:02:50
Market overview
00:02:52
CBI report on H1 2021
00:04:36
Tier 2 subordinated debt
00:05:28
Greenwashing debate
00:06:33
SLBs and questions about penalties
00:07:05
Biodiversity
00:08:02
Nuclear
00:09:18
Philip Morris SLB
00:10:06
CBI report on Latin America
00:10:44
CBI annual conference
00:11:53
Green bonds overview
00:21:35
Social loans overview
00:22:58
Green loans overview
00:24:23
SLB overview
00:27:57
Audience questions
00:30:09
SLL overview
00:31:47
Transition bonds overview
Links to Select Resources
Climate Bonds Initiative: Sustainable Debt Highlights H1 2021
Asian Investor: Do Fears of Greenwashing Outweigh the Evidence?
Bloomberg: ESG Financing Comes With Few Penalties for Missing Goals
Environmental Finance: French Financial System 'Significantly Exposed' to Biodiversity Risk
European Scientist: Kazakhstan Banks on Nuclear Energy For Transition to Low-Carbon Future
Climate Bonds Initiative: Latin America & Caribbean: Sustainable Finance State of the Market 2021
Climate Bonds Initiative: Climate Bonds Conference21 Videos
Climate Bonds Initiative: Transition Finance for Transforming Companies discussion paper
Sustainalytics SPOs:
Isle of Man Sustainability Finance Framework Second-Party Opinion
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico Green Financing Framework
Verizon Green Financing Framework
Axis Bank Sustainable Finance Framework Second-Party Opinion
California Housing Finance Agency Social Bond Framework for the Purchase and Financing of Citibank, N.A. Affordable Housing Loans
Bosam Social Bond Framework
Rumo S.A. Sustainability-Linked Finance Framework
Lilly Sustainability Bond Framework
Vodafone Sustainable and Sustainability-Linked Finance Framework Second-Party Opinion
CEMEX Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework Second-Party Opinion
More Episodes
More episodes of the podcast ESG in Conversation
ESG in Conversation: Financing the Future
29/04/2025
ESG in Conversation: A Look Back at 2024
20/11/2024
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