Green Bond Principles: NIB a candidate for Executive Committee

Green bonds are an established instrument in the capital market. With a special programme launched in 2011, NIB has become a regular issuer of environmental bonds.

As the green bond issuance started picking up, a group of banks took the initiative to standardise practices for market participants and to improve transparency. As a result, in 2014, the Green Bond Principles (GBP) were published as voluntary guidance for bond market participants.

The GBP are followed by issuers, intermediaries and investors and being facilitated by the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA).

NIB is a signatory to the GBP, and the Bank’s environmental bonds are in line with the Green Bond Principles. For further details about the GBP, please see ICMA’s website.

Further development of the principles is taken care of by the GBP Executive Committee. Twelve seats on the Committee are now up for election. The GBP signatories are now being invited to vote for candidates through an electronic ballot by COB on 13 June 2016.

NIB has decided to run as a candidate in the issuer category.

“Running for the Executive Committee, we are demonstrating our support for the Green Bond Principles and our commitment to further developing the green bond market”, says Lars Eibeholm, Head of Treasury at NIB.

“The Nordic countries are in the forefront of developing environmental sustainable economies and have been instrumental in developing the green bond market. NIB is the most experienced issuer of green bonds in the Nordic–Baltic region and a strong candidate representing the sustainable development.”

The NIB Environmental Bond (NEB) framework was set up in 2011 with verification from CICERO. Since then, NIB has issued ten green bonds, and has identified and financed more than thirty-five eligible projects. The Bank is among the top ten issuers of green bonds in the world.

“Due to NIB’s explicit environmental mandate, defining ‘green’ has been part of the Bank’s daily operations in the past decade. All projects considered for financing are assessed and rated in terms of mission fulfilment by our own experienced environmental specialists.”

“NIB’s approach to issuing green bonds is based on long-term sustainable targets, including reducing CO2 emissions. We believe the NEB framework supports the COP21 decisions. Further, NIB has contributed to the working paper that recommends harmonised impact reporting standards for green bonds that was published by a group of issuers during the Paris COP21 summit”, says Mr Eibeholm.

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NIB’s Environmental Framework, including bonds issued and projects funded