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◆ The prospects for sterling bond issuance amid UK political upheaval ◆ A new issuer and a new securitization from the SSA sector ◆ Ontario's plans for a resilience bond
Energie 360, Luzerner Kantonsspital and Aargauische Kantonalbank print green paper
Energy companies took advantage of record tight spreads as they joined a ‘perfect storm’ of dollar funding
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Pivotal players in capital markets through their credit ratings, rating agencies are responding to investors’ increasing focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors by providing ESG ratings too. But how do the two products differ and is there room for both, given ESG’s growing influence on credit risk? Experts from Moody’s ESG Solutions explain their approach.
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In the past two years, environmental, social and governance matters, especially climate change, have gone from a fringe issue in capital markets to — almost — the main issue. Banks, investors, companies and governments have shouldered the responsibility of helping move the economy to net zero emissions in 30 years. That duty has joined the fiduciary obligation to make money for customers and shareholders that have been the markets’ main motivation in the past.
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With a host of landmark transactions that include the world’s first sustainability-linked loan and the world’s first green digital Schuldschein, Verbund stands out as a pioneering issuer of ESG debt. Most recently, it broke significant new ground by combining normally separate green use of bond proceeds with a sustainability-linked coupon.
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Central banks have become integral to the fight against climate change in financial markets. Participants now expect them to wield their immense influence through many avenues of their work — economic analysis, metrics, supervision, investment and even monetary policy.
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While the initial focus of sustainable finance efforts was largely on environmental action, social factors have grown increasingly prominent in recent years — underscored by the establishment of the Social Bond Principles in 2017. Subsequently, Covid and racial tensions in the US have each highlighted social disparities that are leading issuers and investors to treat diversity and inclusion as key parameters too.
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With sovereign ESG bonds passing a clear inflection point, sustainability-linked bonds seeing notable growth and acceptance, and social bonds catapulted forward by a key borrower — the European Union (EU) — that is also poised to boost the green bonds market with an unprecedented €250bn programme, sustainable debt capital markets are reaching a new peak of activity across the capital structure from every issuer and credit type. So what’s driving the current boom and what will follow it?
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