Archive

  • EDF signs first green loan for nuclear energy

    24 November 2022

    French power giant Électricité de France (EDF) has signed a €1 billion ($1 billion) green loan to finance investments in nuclear energy - the first green loan deal dedicated to the controversial source of green energy.

  • France's 'perfectly timed' inflation-linked green bond debut

    30 May 2022

    With a longstanding reputation as a prolific green bond issuer and innovator, France welcomed the strong demand for its 'perfectly timed' green 'linker' debut. Ahren Lester reports

  • Sustainable bonds in 2022 - beyond $1trn

    23 December 2021

    After another record-breaking 2021, hopes are high that sustainable bond issuance will surge past $1 trillion in 2022. Ahren Lester reports

  • Ford raises $15bn in first sustainability-linked facilities from a US automaker

    04 October 2021

    Ford Motor Company has signed sustainability-linked revolving credit facilities worth a combined $15.5 billion, making it the first US automaker to tie its facilities to sustainability performance targets and one of the largest borrowers globally through this type of instrument.

  • Green Bond Comment, August 2021: A new dawn for the beleaguered transition bond label?

    04 August 2021

    Once seen as the next exciting frontier in sustainable fixed income, the take-up of transition bonds has so far underwhelmed the market. But could the beleaguered label stage a fight back, asks Ahren Lester

  • Sustainability Linked Bond Principles get first birthday present - further metric guidance

    11 June 2021

    One year after they were first published, the developers of the Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles (SLBP) have provided some illustrative metrics...

  • Green Bond Principles tightens 'key' recommendations to reflect market best practice

    10 June 2021

    Three years after the last update, the widely adopted Green Bond Principles has received a raft of updates to bring it in line with the developing best practice in the global sustainable bond market. Ahren Lester reports

  • Social bond fund growth is coming - but perhaps not imminently

    14 April 2021

    After social bond issuance jumped nine-fold in 2020, attention is increasingly turning to the lack of dedicated social bond funds. They are expected to arrive, but perhaps not immediately. Ahren Lester reports

  • Defining transition finance: how to be inclusive yet specific

    28 September 2020

    Transition finance has garnered a lot of attention, but the challenge of delineating what exactly it is remains unresolved. Three recent reports try to balance the need for the definition to be both broad enough to be inclusive, yet specific enough to protect the instruments from claims of greenwashing. Ahren Lester reports.

  • Basic definition essential for transition bond issuance, says ISS ESG

    25 September 2020

    The market does not have to 'reinvent the wheel' on the structure of transition bonds to support future issuers, ISS ESG tells Ahren Lester, but a clear definition of what activities demonstrate 'transition' is essential for this potentially large market to grow