Green bonds – a way to finance the cities of tomorrow?

Start/Stop Date:
02 Mar 2016
Organiser:
City of Gothenburg
Venue:
Gothenburg European Office, Nordic House, Rue du Luxembourg 3, Brussels – 14:00-16:00
Focus Areas:
Financing cities
Type of Event:
Conference

Cities in Europe are committed to ambitious climate and environmental programmes, however cities face challenges to finance activities to reach these goals. This seminar will provide an occasion to discuss how green bonds can contribute to sustainable cities and explore further collaboration in a European context. The opportunities provided by green bonds for cities, how green bond issuance can be done by a city and what can be called green when it comes to bond issuance by cities will also be highlighted during the seminar

The City of Gothenburg became the first city in the world to borrow money through the use of green bonds. Now, green bonds have become a tool for the city to reach its environmental and climate goals. Green bonds are a financial tool designed to counter and reduce the impact of climate change. The initiative came from the World Bank, which in 2008 launched this type of bonds as a part of the process of stimulating and coordinating the activities of the public and private sectors aiming to combat the effects of climate change. Through the bonds, capital is dedicated to various green projects.

In January 2016, the EIB increased its share of the green bonds “Climate Awareness Bond (CAB) 2023” to EUR 1.5bn, providing investors with the opportunity to associate their investment with EIB’s lending in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Please register by 29th February by sending an email to david.erlandsson@cityhall.goteborg.se

We look forward to welcoming you to the seminar!

Programme

14:00-14:30 Climate Awareness Bonds from the EIB 2016 – a consequence of COP 21? Eila Kreivi, Director and Head of Capital Markets Department at the EIB

14:30-14:50 How can Green bonds contribute to achieve ambitious city goals? Magnus Borelius, Head of Group Treasury in the City of Gothenburg

14:50-15:10 Green bonds – a view from a commercial bank Christopher Flensborg, Head of Sustainable Products and Product Development Fixed Income and DCM Global, SEB

15:10-15:30 Financing Energy Efficiency and sustainable transport with financial instruments Senior representative from Greater London Authority (tbc)

15:30-16:00 Q&A session Networking session