What’s Happening in Sustainable Finance: Green Bond Standards on the Horizon and Much More
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Episode Summary Hosts

• Nicholas Gandolfo, Vice President, Corporate Solutions

• Aditi Bhatia, Senior Regional Manager, Corporate Solutions

What Will the EU Green Bond Standard Mean for the Market? 

With the European Union’s Green Bond Standard set to come into effect sometime next year, we look at what it could mean for the global sustainable finance market more broadly. Although the highly anticipated framework is expected to be the gold standard for what we see in the market going forward, there are ongoing concerns about its usability. Some market participants are worried about the potential difficulty in meeting all the requirements of the Green Bond Standard and whether the standard is too prescriptive in its requirements to set up a framework.  

Sustainable Finance Meets AI  

The sustainable debt market continues to see innovations in the types of projects being funded. One example is the use of green bonds to raise money for artificial intelligence (AI) projects related to green or social initiatives. The green bond issuance highlighted in this episode will finance AI projects related to improving the environmental performance of buildings through data analytics and energy management software. Using AI to support corporate sustainability improvements is not new, but funding such projects using sustainable debt instruments could be the next wave. 

Changes Coming to the Podcast!

Our sustainable finance insights show will be taking a break for the summer. We’ll be back this fall with some exciting changes to bring you more ESG, sustainable finance and responsible investing insights. In the meantime, please subscribe to ESG in Conversation on your favorite podcast platform and enjoy new episodes each month! 

Key Moments

0:00:49 

Market overview 

0:01:36 

CBI Q1 highlights report 

0:03:04 

LMA sustainability linked loan drafting model 

0:03:28 

Sustainable bond market risks 

0:04:44 

Gender-focused social bonds  

0:05:37 

Transition plan guidelines 

0:05:58 

Debt for nature swaps 

0:06:23 

IRENA report on the cost of energy transition 

0:07:00 

New CBI reports 

0:07:42 

SLB and SLL overview 

0:11:35 

Audience questions 

0:16:08 

Green bonds and loans overview 

0:19:25 

Labeled products, transition bonds and regulatory updates 

Links to Select Resources

• Climate Bonds Initiative – Sustainable Debt Market Summary Q1 2023 )

• Environmental Finance – LMA Publishes ‘Vital’ Sustainability-Linked Loan Drafting Model )

• Morningstar Sustainalytics – Anticipating the Inevitable: What to Expect from the European Green Bonds Regulation)  

• Responsible Investor – Details Emerge on EU Green Bond Standard as Concerns About Uptake Remain) 

• Environmental Finance – Sustainable Bond Market Risks Fragmentation Amid ‘Regulatory Overload’ )

• BusinessWorld – No Plans for Follow-Up Offer of Catastrophe Bonds – De Leon) 

• WION – Bhutan Takes Steps to Set Up Green Cryptocurrency Mining Operation: Report) 

• Environmental Finance – ‘Huge Opportunities’ for Gender-Focused Corporate Sustainable Bond Growth )

• Environmental Finance – GSAM: 36% of European Investors Ready to Invest in Social Bonds )

• Forbes – Companies Going Green Should Add Finance To Sustainability Strategies) 

• Eco-Business – The Next Wave of Greenwashing: Offsets, Competitor Claims and ‘Transition-Washing’) 

• Environmental Finance – Banks Call on EU to Provide Transition Plan Guidelines) 

• Environmental Finance – Credit Suisse Arranges $1.6bn Debt-for-Nature Conversion With Ecuador) 

• IRENA – Low-Cost Finance for the Energy Transition) 

• Climate Bonds Initiative Reports 

• Concrete Policies to Underpin the Cement Transition) 

• ASEAN Sustainable Finance State of the Market 2022 )

• Property Certification Opportunities in Tokyo )

• Sneak Peek: The CBI’s Resilience Taxonomy Blueprint )

• Sustainalytics Second-Party Opinions 

• TDC NET Sustainability-Linked Finance Framework Second Party Opinion) 

• UMH Properties Inc. Sustainable Finance Framework Second-Party Opinion )

• Grupo Bimbo Sustainable Financing Framework Second-Party Opinion )

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