First Of Its Kind: Green Bonds' Data Goes Public

On Thursday, Climate Bonds Initiative launched a full list of labelled green bonds, including basic bond reference data and “second party opinions.” This is the first list of its kind that has been made available for the public, and it summarizes five years of tracking these bonds. The list can be accessed here.

What Is A Green Bond?

Green bonds are relatively new financial instruments, still unknown to many investors. The idea behind them is to help fund projects or assets with climate and/or environmental benefits. Green bonds are tax-exempt, which makes them more attractive than regular, taxable bonds.

Related Link: What Are Climate Bonds And Why Should You Care?

The Trend

Despite being still quite undiscovered, green bonds have experienced plenty of growth in 2014. According to Climate Bonds Initiative, more than $35 billion in Green Bonds were issued in 2014, more than tripling 2013’s figures.

Projections point to $100 billion in issuances for 2015 and about $300 billion by 2018.

About The Data

Sean Kidney, CEO of Climate Bonds Initiative explained the reasoning behind including second party opinions: “Second opinions are included because they provide investors with additional transparency into the bonds’ planned use of proceeds or green assets. However not all bonds have second opinions; 42 percent of issuers chose not to get one in 2014.”

“Although not strictly required,” Kidney continued,”They are a great tool for investors and key for market confidence. We wanted to highlight those issuers who chose to get a second opinion and make it easy for investors and other stakeholders to access these reports.”

This database tracks all self-labelled green bonds. However, this does not necessarily mean that the Climate Bonds Initiative agrees with the issuer. For further information on each of the bonds, check out the second opinion documents and the Climate Bonds Initiative blog.

Image credit: Nicolas Raymond, Flickr