Low Carbon Buildings: CBI Expands Certifications

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Low Carbon Buildings: CBI Expands Certifications: More Cities – More Markets: Commercial, Residential & Retrofits: New Proxies and Trajectories Available for Investors

Certification opportunities available for green issuers: Multiple cities, multiple markets:

Commercial, Residential and Upgrades: Greening building investment

Goal of Net Zero by 2050

 

Expanded jurisdictions for Certification

Our Low Carbon Buildings (LCB) Criteria cover both Commercial and Residential buildings and provide three possible avenues for Certification:

  • trajectory
  • proxies
  • retrofit improvements

In the third of our special Low Carbon Buildings (LCB) Blog Series (the first blog looked at Germany and the second looked more broadly at European cities) we look at the growing number of jurisdictions where Climate Bonds Certification is available for low carbon buildings investments using one of those three avenues.

 

Opportunities in Multiple Markets 

LCB Certification is now available in multiple markets including:

  • Australia
  • Singapore?
  • USA?
  • China?
  • Mexico?
  • New Zealand?
  • Europe?
  • Korea

Relevant local proxies and measures have already been used for Certifying Green Bonds.

 

LCB Certifications 

Australia

Australia is becoming an important player in LCB Certifications. We have seen multiple LCB Certifications roll-out of the country, including a world first supermarkets Certification by Woolworths Group for their AUD400m 5-year bond.

Here’s some examples from the last four years:

 

Singapore 

In 2017, CDL Properties Ltd. in Singapore (CDLP), also issued a Certified green bond. Proceeds of the SGD100m (USD70.7m) Climate Bonds Certified issuance will be allocated to the repayment of an SGD100m loan extended by CDL to CDLP which owns Republic Plaza, one of Singapore’s tallest skyscrapers and a premium Grade A office building in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District.

 

USA 

In the United States, the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA) issued its 14th green bond in July 2019, becoming the issuer that has issued the greatest number of Climate Bonds to date. HFA is using Programmatic Certification route for multiple green issuers, adhering to Low Carbon Buildings Criteria.

HFA expects that the housing projects financed with the proceeds of its Green Bonds will meet or exceed certain ENERGYSTAR energy efficiency standards and thereby qualify as “Low Carbon Buildings” under the Climate Bond’s criteria.

New cities recently available for Certification of Commercial buildings are Sacramento and San Diego. See the table below for full list of US Cities.

 

Poland 

In Poland, PKO Bank Hipoteczny (PKO BH) recently announced the issuance of Certified PLN250m green covered bonds, a benchmark for Poland. The proceeds will be exclusively utilised for financing new or refinancing existing long-term residential mortgages with high energy efficiency.

Certification is available for Commercial and Residential buildings across all of Poland.

 

France

Societe Generale issued its 5th ‘positive impact bond’ with the issue mounting to EUR1bn, 10 year fixed-rate covered bond. The bond will be used towards refinancing of eligible home loans. The bank is hoping to show its commitment to the energy transition and also limiting global temperature rise well below 2 degrees.