On January 13th, a consortium of investment banks announced their support of the Green Bond Principles (GBP); the consortium includes Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Banking, JPMorgan Chase, BNP Paribas, Daiwa, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Mizuho Securities, Morgan Stanley, Rabobank and SEB. These Principles were developed with guidance from issuers, investors and environmental groups to serve as voluntary guidelines for the development and issuance of Green Bond and to encourage transparency, disclosure and integrity in the development of the Green Bond market. These Principles build on first-to-market issuances by multilaterals and provide a platform for other future Green Bond issuers to direct funding to qualifying green projects. The guidelines include an appendix of established "green" project categories that were developed by multilaterals, non-profit and non-government organizations (e.g. the Climate Bonds Initiative) and other relevant stakeholders. The GBP drafting committee – i.e. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Banking and JPMorgan Chase – intend to propose a new GB governance process that will allow for diverse stakeholder input into the Green Bond Principles. Read more about the Green Bond Principles here.
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