28 March 2018

Environmental Finance Green Bond Awards winners revealed

Environmental Finance's Green Bond Awards have grown for the second consecutive year, as the number of categories expands in line with a rapidly expanding market.

There are a total of 32 awards this year, compared to the 25 that were up for grabs last year and 15 the year before.

For example, there is a new award for Social bond of the year, which was won by Nederlandse Waterschapsbank.

The winners were not decided by Environmental Finance but by a panel of judges made up of some of the biggest green bond investors.

The awards, which cover 2017 calendar year, aim to recognise best practice, or issues that were significant in the development of the market, and are the most hotly contested in the green bond space.

Winners include Barclays, which won Green bond of the year in the 'bank' category for its landmark use of property energy efficiency data. It is joined by the Republic of France, which followed its €7 billion issue in January 2017 with subsequent taps that took the total amount raised to about €9.7 billion.

Other notable winners include the City Of Cape Town, which issued a ZAR 74 million ($83 million) green bond to refinance water projects at a time when the country's legislative capital and its surrounding region was suffering a severe drought.

The prestigious Personality of the Year award will be announced tomorrow.

Congratulations to all of 2017's winners. It's been a great start to the year for the green bond market, and the candidates for 2018 are already looking strong.

Asset-backed/asset-based bond of the Year Obvion
Green bond of the Year - bank Barclays' €500m green bond - November 2017
Green bond of the Year - corporate Ørsted
Green bond of the Year - local authority City Of Cape Town
Green bond of the Year - municipality New York City MTA
Green bond of the Year - sovereign Republic of France
Green bond of the Year - supranational, sub-sovereign and agency (SSA) MuniFin
Project bond of the Year Canadian Solar
Social bond of the Year Nederlandse Waterschapsbank
Sustainability bond of the Year City of Paris
Exchange of the year Luxembourg Stock Exchange
External reviewer of the year Cicero
Green bond fund of the Year Lombard Odier (Affirmative Investment Management)
Impact report of the year (issuers only) SNCF Réseau - Carbon Impact Report of Rail Infrastructure Investments
Index of the year The Bloomberg Barclays MSCI Green Bond Index family
Law firm of the Year White & Case
Lead manager of the Year - bank ABN AMRO
Lead manager of the Year - corporate BNP Paribas
Lead manager of the Year - municipal & local authority JP Morgan
Lead manager of the Year - sovereign Credit Agricole
Lead manager of the Year - SSA JP Morgan
Personality of the year Aldo Romani
Award for innovation - bond structure Tadau Energy's Green SRI Sukuk - First Of Its Kind
Award for innovation - use of proceeds Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Initiative of the Year The EU Commission's High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance
Biggest underwriter Credit Agricole
Biggest issuer: Bank Bank of Beijing
Biggest issuer: Corporate Mexico City Airport
Biggest issuer: Muni MTA
Biggest issuer: Local authority MuniFin
Biggest issuer: SSA Fannie Mae
Biggest issuer: sovereign Republic of France