The Swedish National Debt Office announced Thursday it will issue green bonds in 2020 at the latest to fund budget items related to sustainable investments and projects.
The agency said in a brief statement it will have to first develop a green framework to define which items will be funded by the issuance.
“We are fully committed to implementing this assignment in an effective and transparent way. The effects of the climate and environmental measures that are funded by the State’s green bonds should be easy for investors to follow and evaluate,” says Debt Office Director General Hans Lindblad.
The assignment includes working together with the Government Offices to set up the ‘green framework’, which includes defining the expenditure items in the budget that will be funded by the green bonds. The Debt Office shall also analyze how to carry out the issue in an optimal way within the management of central government debt.
The issuance volume shall, according to the assignment, comply with the objective of the debt management and fit well within the volume of green expenditure defined in the budget. The issue can be carried out once the framework is in place and there is a structure for reporting the climate and environmental effects of the expenditures financed by the green bonds.
“The decision that the State will now issue green bonds is an important part of the transition to sustainable development. The financial market plays a key role in this transition, and the Government wants to improve the opportunities for sustainable investments by promoting the market for green bonds,” Swedish minister for financial markets Per Bolund said in a separate press release.
Besides Sweden, Germany is also considering launching its maiden sovereign green bond issuance in 2020, per a Financial Times report last week.
The two countries will join the list of sovereign green bond issuers currently populated by Poland, France, Nigeria, Fiji, Belgium, Indonesia, Lithuania, Republic of Seychelles, Ireland, the Netherlands and Chile.
Source Renewables Now