World Bank Issued Two More Green Growth Bonds: Total World Bank Green Growth Bond Issuance Exceeds USD 555 Million through 16 Transactions

Washington, DC, January 8, 2016 – The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development or IBRD, rated Aaa/AAA) is pleased to announce that it has issued two more Green Growth Bonds bringing the total issued in this format to over USD 555 million through 16 transactions – approximately USD 389 million from international retail and high net worth investors and approximately USD 167 million through institutional private placements with European insurance companies, pension funds and private banks.

The most recent transactions were issued to retail investors in Europe and the United States respectively.  The European trade, which settled on January 8, 2016, was linked to the Ethical Europe Climate Care Index.  It was issued to retail investors in Belgium and Luxembourg raising USD 16.3877 million.  The U.S. trade was linked to the Ethical Europe Equity Index and settled on December 31, 2015 raising USD1.436 million.

The World Bank first issued a green bond linked to the Ethical Europe Equity Index in August 2014, which was a EUR 50 million private placement with BNP Paribas Cardif. Since then, the World Bank has issued a series of Green Growth Bonds - both institutional private placements as well as retail offerings, across geographical regions and investor bases. The World Bank’s first equity index-linked Green Growth Bond for retail investors was in Belgium in January 2015, for a total of USD 91 million. Thereafter, the World Bank diversified the program to reach other investors in Europe, including France, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland, as well as investors in Asia (Hong Kong and Singapore) and the U.S.

Green Growth Bonds form part of the World Bank’s Green Bond program. Since its first green bond launched in 2008, the World Bank has issued 110 green bonds in 18 currencies, totaling over USD 8.6 billion equivalent. 

Green Bonds: World Bank green bonds offer investors an opportunity to support environmental solutions through a bond product that benefits from the triple-A credit strength of the World Bank. World Bank green bonds support the financing of projects in member countries that meet specific criteria for low carbon and climate resilient growth, seeking to mitigate climate change or help affected people adapt to it. The types of eligible projects include renewable energy installations, energy efficiency projects, and new technologies in waste management and agriculture that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help finance the transition to a low carbon economy. They also include financing for forest and watershed management and infrastructure to prevent climate-related flood damage and build climate resilience.

Ethical Europe Equity Index was designed to deliver long-term performance and consists of 30 European stocks, selected for inclusion based on an analysis by Vigeo, an independent and well-established Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating agency, and Forum Ethibel, an independent Belgian consulting agency that rates and audits sustainability, ethics, and social responsibility metrics of corporations. The index is owned, calculated and managed by Solactive, a global index provider.

Ethical Europe Climate Care Index was designed by Solactive in partnership with Vigeo. This index encourages companies to improve their energy transition strategy through a unique filtering methodology that selects companies on the basis of their carbon footprint and their energy transition strategy. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance and financial filters are also applied.

BNP Paribas Corporate and Institutional Banking has partnered with the World Bank to develop the Green Growth Bond products.

About the World Bank

The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD), rated Aaa/AAA (Moody’s/S&P), is an international organization created in 1944. It operates as a global development cooperative owned by 188 nations. It provides its members with financing, expertise and coordination services so they can achieve equitable and sustainable economic growth in their national economies and find effective solutions to pressing regional and global economic and environmental problems. The World Bank Group has two main goals: to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. The World Bank (IBRD) seeks to achieve them primarily by providing loans, risk management products, and expertise on development-related disciplines to its borrowing member government clients in middle-income countries and other creditworthy countries, and by coordinating responses to regional and global challenges. The World Bank has been issuing bonds in the international capital markets for over 60 years to fund its sustainable development activities and achieve a positive impact.

Information on bonds for investors is available on the World Bank Treasury website: www.worldbank.org/debtsecurities

For more information about World Bank green bonds, see: http://treasury.worldbank.org/greenbonds.