Record levels of green bonds issued in October

Following an October where over US$ 5 billion of green bonds were issued, 2015 is set to be a record see a record issuance of green bonds.

October’s record puts the cumulative issuance so far this year at over US$31 billion, according to Climate Bonds Initiative.

The largest issue of the month was by EDF. The French energy company raised US$1.25 billion in what was the largest US dollar-denominated green bond ever.

The second green bonds issue by EDF, funds raised from the first bond issue used for finance ten wind projects, two solar PV projects, and biogas projects across the US, France, and Canada.

The bonds were underwritten by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CITI, CA CIB, JP Morgan, Mitsubishi and Mizuho, and will mature in 10 years.

October also saw the first green bond by a state-owned Chinese bank, with the Agriculture Bank of China issuing the first renminbi-denominated green bond, placing a total of US$994.5m into Chinese green bond market.

Credit Agricole CIB also issued Uridashi a green bond for retail investors in Japan, SolarCity Corp raised US$25 million in new issuance and Swedish real estate company Vasakronan AB issued new bonds, raising US$60 million.

Climate Bonds Initiative has also stated that German development bank KfW is expected to issued green bonds worth €1.5 billion with 5-year maturity.