Winners of Environmental Finance Bond Awards 2019 honoured by market

02 April 2019

The Environmental Finance Bond Awards 2019 feature several repeat winners alongside many new names, as 13 extra categories were added this year in response to the rapid growth of social and sustainability bonds.

The awards include several new categories for deals and lead managers in the social and sustainability bond market, reflecting the growth of these markets. There was also a new category for investor of the year.

The hotly contested awards, which cover the 2018 calendar year, aim to recognise best practice, or issues that were significant for the development of the market. The awards are particularly prestigious because the winners were decided by an independent panel of judges made up of some of the biggest investors in the green, social and sustainability bond market.

A record 24 investors gave up their time to help judge the awards. Environmental Finance is grateful to them for helping to promote best practice in this important market.

Notable winners this year include the IFC/Amundi Planet Emerging Green One fund, which was named Initiative of the Year as well as the Green Bond Fund of the Year.

Marilyn Ceci of JP Morgan who was voted Personality of the Year.

"Marilyn has served the market with relentless passion and integrity for many years," said one judge.

She is "a green bond superstar," added another.

Among the repeat winners were the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, Cicero and the Bloomberg Barclays MSCI Green Bond index, which retained the titles of Exchange of the Year, External Assessment Provider of the Year and Index of the Year, respectively.

Among the lead managers, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and HSBC all excelled, each grabbing more than one award.

Congratulations to all of the winners and many thanks to our hard-working judges. After many dramatic developments in the market in 2018, we look forward to seeing how it evolves in 2019. 

AwardWinner
Personality of the year Marilyn Ceci
Green Bonds 
Asset-backed/asset-based bond of the year Berlin Hyp
Green bond of the year - bank ING
Green bond of the year - corporate TenneT
Green bond of the year - local authority/municipality Province of Ontario
Green bond of the year - US muni San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Green bond of the year - sovereign Republic of Indonesia
Green bond of the year - SSA CPPIB Capital
Green project bond of the year Equilibrium Capital
Social Bonds 
Social bond of the year - bank DKB
Social bond of the year - corporate Danone
Social bond of the year - US muni City of Los Angeles
Social bond of the year - SSA Nederlandse Waterschapsbank
Sustainability Bonds 
Sustainability bond of the year - bank BNG Bank
Sustainability bond of the year - corporate Macquarie University
Sustainability bond of the year - local authority/municipality Region Ile-de-France
Sustainability bond of the year - US muni New York City Housing Development Corporation
Sustainability bond of the year - SSA NRW State
Teams and innovative thinking 
Award for innovation - bond structure Tropical Landscape Financing Facility project bonds
Award for innovation - use of proceeds Nippon Yusen Kaisha
Initiative of the year Amundi Planet Emerging Green One
Companies 
Exchange of the year Luxembourg Stock Exchange
External assessment provider of the year Cicero Shades of Green
Green bond fund of the year Amundi Planet Emerging Green One
Investor of the year (not a fund) Zurich Insurance Group
Impact report of the year IFC's Social Bond Impact Report
Index of the year Bloomberg Barclays MSCI Green Bond Index
Law firm of the year Latham & Watkins
Lead Managers 
Green Bonds  
Lead manager of the year, green bonds - bank Crédit Agricole
Lead manager of the year, green bonds - corporate BNP Paribas
Lead manager of the year, green bonds - local authority/municipality HSBC
Lead manager of the year, green bonds - US muni Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Lead manager of the year, green bonds - sovereign BNP Paribas
Lead manager of the year, green bonds - SSA Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Social Bonds  
Lead manager of the year, social bonds - bank Daiwa
Lead manager of the year - corporate HSBC
Lead manager of the year - SSA Crédit Agricole
Sustainability Bonds  
Lead manager of the year - bank BNP Paribas
Lead manager of the year - corporate HSBC
Lead manager of the year - US muni JP Morgan
Lead manager of the year - SSA BMO

Click here to see full list of winners