Increasing issuance of corporate green bonds

French utility giant EDF this week set a new high in the market for corporate ‘green bonds’, issuing £1.2 billion (euros 1.4 bn) worth of bonds tied to returns from its renewable assets.

Although the bond is only a small fraction of the total market, the fact that the issue was two-times over-subscribed suggests there is at least another £1bn looking for the mix of risk and reward offered by ‘green’ assets.

Not only was the total amount raised higher previously achieved, the returns (yield) offered were also higher than previous ‘green bonds’. This is in contrast to the numbers of institutions that have been divesting from fossil fuels*.

The bond was rated A+ by Standard & Poors and by Fitch, and Aa3 by Moody’s.


* “Swedish pension funds urged to dump fossil fuel holdings
More US cities join push to sell off fossil fuel investments

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