"This position paper is an important milestone in securing a better dialogue and enables investors to understand the impact of their investments. It is initiatives like this which will allow finance to proactively contribute to building sustainable societies.", says Christopher Flensborg, head of Climate & Sustainable Financial Solutions at SEB.
The paper has been developed during the past 14 months by a working group comprising eight public sector green bond issuers from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. These are the City of Gothenburg, Kommunalbanken, Kommunekredit, Kommuninvest, Municipality Finance, Municipality of Norrköping, Municipality of Örebro, Stockholm County Council (SLL), Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK). After the development work, Municipality of Lund and Region Skåne have joined the group of signatories.
The paper proposes an outline for reporting environmental benefits of green bond investments. It provides guidance on general matters such as to report on actual impact when feasible, to distinguish between reduced and avoided emissions, and to report impact in relation to the share financed by green bonds.
The paper has also benefited from input from investors including Actiam, Mirova, Storebrand Asset Management and Strukturinvest Fondkommission as well as from CICERO during the process.
"SEB is privileged to have been invited as advisor to this group of green bond issuers in this ground breaking work on a comprehensive, practical guideline for harmonised impact reporting. It has been hard work from which we all have gained a deeper understanding of how to communicate about the broader impacts of capital allocation" says Mats Olausson, senior advisor Climate & Sustainable Financial Solutions.
The Swedish launch of the Position Paper will take place on Friday 27 October 2017.