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A €40 million ($47 million) 'emergency liquidity facility' has been launched to help smallholder farmers in developing countries survive the economic fallout from Covid-19.

After a significant jump in green bond issuance in 2019, the KfW capital markets head tells Ahren Lester they still expect 2020 issuance to hit €8 billion and that 'greeniums' have persisted - but don't expect any social or sustainability-linked bonds from the development bank.

Renewable energy producer Boralex has completed a C$805 million ($600 million) refinancing over 16 years for its 230MW Niagara Region Wind Farm (NRWF) in Ontario, Canada.

Sustainablilty focused asset manager Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis, has closed its Althelia Sustainable Ocean Fund (SOF) with $132 million, above the target amount of $100 million.

Energy efficient buildings took more than 79% of the allocated proceeds from the €8.1 billon ($8.8 billion) of green bonds issued by German development bank KfW in 2019. The remaining 21% went to renewable energy projects. Nine in ten of all the projects were based in Germany, with the rest in other OECD countries.

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) has partnered with German development bank KfW to promote and develop the green bond market and to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) assessments into other fixed income investments.

Former Bank of England (BoE) governor Mark Carney has described green bonds as a "success story", while lauding the benefits of sovereign issuers entering the market.

KfW has sealed its first labelled transaction in a year that it expects could eventually see it issue green bonds worth a total of €8 billion ($8.9 billion).

Sustainable investment specialist Mirova has reached a second close for its Althelia Sustainable Ocean Fund, raising an additional $50 million and taking the fund's total commitments to $92 million.