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Episode Summary
Hosts
- Nicholas Gandolfo, Director, Corporate Solutions
- Marika Stocker, Senior Manager, Corporate Solutions
The recurring theme in this episode’s round up of market developments is innovation! Nick also offers a list of recommended reading for the month (be prepared, it’s a long one) and concludes the tale of his encounter with an elephant in Bangladesh first mentioned in October’s episode.
Innovation is the Name of the Game in Sustainable Finance
The thread of innovation continues throughout sustainable finance – from green cryptocurrency to ESG derivatives, and relinked sustainability instruments (sustainability-linked bonds tied to sustainability-linked loans). Ultimately, it’s good to see the market continue to develop, but caution and scrutiny are needed to ensure that labeling and the increasing complexity of financial instruments don’t lead to greenwashing.
Greening of IPOs
On the heels of Allbirds’ initial public offering (IPO), for which Sustainalytics provided a corporate ESG assessment of the company, there are continuing discussions about the greening of IPOs. As the number of companies going public continues to rise, they are each looking for ways to signal to investors that they are a safe bet when it comes to managing material ESG risks and overall company management. Having their ESG or sustainability performance assessed by a third-party prior to their IPO is one way to do that. Watch this space as we see how this trend develops for new IPOs in 2022.
Recommended Reading
- IEA – Tracking Report: Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas
- McKinsey – Curbing Methane Emissions: How Five Industries Can Counter a Major Climate Threat
- IEA – Global Hydrogen Review 2021
- IEA – An Energy Sector Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality in China
- Energy Transitions Commission – Keeping 1.5°C Alive: Actions for the 2020s
- HSBC – A Practitioner’s Guide to Net Zero for Banks
Key Moments
| 01:28 | Market overview |
| 02:00 | Greening of IPOs |
| 02:40 | Google adds carbon data to flight info |
| 03:00 | Green cryptocurrency |
| 03:32 | EF conference - ESG Risk Ratings |
| 04:08 | ESG derivatives |
| 04:46 | Taxonomy report from Natixis |
| 05:11 | Nuclear power in sustainable finance |
| 05:46 | COP26 highlights |
| 06:19 | New in sustainability-linked finance: relinked SLBs |
| 07:04 | Biodiversity COP15 highlights |
| 07:31 | Green industry unicorns |
| 08:03 | Report recommendations: McKinsey & IEA methane reports |
| 08:40 | CBI interactive data tool |
| 09:36 | Green bonds overview |
| 15:10 | Social bonds and loans overview |
| 21:21 | Audience questions |
| 28:21 | SLL overview |
| 30:53 | Labeled products overview |
| 32:16 | Transition finance overview |
| 33:30 | Regulatory and country update |
Links to Select Resources
- Natixis – The New Geography of Taxonomies
- Oilprice.com - EU’s Green Bond Debut Comes Out Swinging
- Natural Gas World - Japan's Inpex Issues Its 1st Green Bonds
- Sustainalytics SPOs:
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