Sovereign Green Bonds – I4CE’s Op-ed in ID4D blog

29 September 2016 - Foreword of the week

Igor Shishlov, project manager at I4CE has recently published an op-ed on the blog Ideas for Development, a blog coordinated by Agence Francaise de Développement.

This article was prepared on the occasion of the announcement made by France on the issuance of its first sovereign green bond by 2017. The issuance of sovereign green bonds by France – announced in the run up to the G20 summit in early September 2016 – sends a political signal to the market stakeholders and other countries that environmental issues are becoming a top national priority and will make France the first country to use this type of instrument.

Three main issues are discussed in this Op-ed :

How the French State is joining the green finance movement
How the issuance of sovereign green bonds sends a political signal that may help boost climate action in the long run
How important it is for sovereign green bonds to be backed by ambitious, long-term climate strategies in order to have a tangible impact

This Op-ed builds on I4CE’s recent publication on green bonds: Beyond transparency: unlocking the full potential of green bonds, that takes stock of the current status of the green bond market and pin-points two key challenges to be addressed : environmental integrity and increased transparency.

You can find the English version of this op-ed on the website of the blog, Ideas for Development : Sovereign Green Bonds: a symbolic act or a binding commitment?.

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