Online articles

  • Green Bond Principles adapt as market innovates

    The world’s first sustainability-linked bond and the evolution of transition bonds have led the executive committee of the Green Bond Principles (GBP), with the support of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), to agree to embrace a wider scope of bond products for a more sustainable, low-carbon economy.
  • A sustainable market takes shape in New Zealand

    New Zealand's green, social and sustainability (GSS) bond market grew substantially in 2019 but is still concentrated around a fw repeat issuers. At the KangaNews-Westpac New Zealand Sustainable Finance Summit in Auckland in November 2019, market participants discussed developments in the GSS market and the wider application of sustainability.
  • Against a rising tide

    The scale of Australia’s infrastructure task means investors in the sector are instrumental in driving climate change outcomes. They also recognise that climate-risk assessment is a financial consideration and, therefore, they have a fiduciary obligation in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) arena. If they ignore this, they risk failing to deliver long-term, sustainable returns.
  • ANZ’s future lies in the balance sheet

    ANZ is connecting the dots between the asset and liability sides of its balance sheet. It has already transitioned its use-of-proceeds bond issuance to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) format. The bank hopes in future to refinance a much larger pool of sustainability-linked loan (SLL) lending by using these loans to back labelled bond issuance.
  • Australasian sustainable debt market trends

    Issuance trends from 2019 across the Australian high-grade, financial institution and corporate sectors, as well as in the New Zealand market. Featuring transaction insights and issuer perspectives from the KangaNews archive.
  • Becoming the guardians of a sustainable world

    A year after it was established, the New Zealand Sustainable Finance Forum (NZSFF) published an interim report and legal opinion on how the country can shift to a more sustainable footing. NZSFF co-chairs, Karen Silk, general manager at Westpac in Auckland, and Matt Whineray, chief executive at New Zealand Super Fund in Auckland, provide an exclusive overview of this work.
  • Deal and league tables

    KangaNews launches its GSS bond league tables for Australia and New Zealand showing the top bookrunners in each jurisdiction since the markets started, and for calendar year 2019. A full list of GSS deals for Australia and New Zealand is included.
  • Driving sustainability into financial markets in Australia

    Jacki Johnson, adviser to IAG on climate change and sustainability and Simon O'Connor, chief executive at Responsible Investment Association of Australasia Ð co-chairs of the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative (ASFI) Ð provide an update on the programme's first progress report, released in November 2019.
  • ESG steps forward in rating-agency analysis

    The evolution of debt investors’ incorporation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors is making rating agencies more relevant to the sector. In particular, the move towards incorporating ESG into entity-level credit analysis is bringing the sustainable market into the rating agencies’ sweet spot. Challenges in determining materiality and timeframes for risk remain.
  • Global collaboration critical to banking sector goals

    The way Australian companies, especially in the financial sector, are responding to environmental and social risks is becoming more sophisticated and more prominent. Siobhan Toohill, group head of sustainability at Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) in Sydney, says collaboration between industry participants is taking progress to a new level.
  • Going all the way

    With €1.6 trillion (US$1.7 trillion) in assets under management, Amundi is Europe’s largest asset manager and in the top 10 worldwide by funds under management. The firm is recognised as a powerhouse in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space and it is working toward an ambitious plan for 2021. Jean-Jacques Barbéris, head of institutional and corporate clients coverage at Amundi in...
  • Lead from the front

    The private sector is the engine of economic activity in Australia and the frontline for lowering emissions. Participants at the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) conference in Melbourne on 11 December 2019 urged corporates to act on meeting environmental and social challenges – for their businesses and for the planet.
  • NAB makes hard commitment to ESG strategy

    The way Australian companies, especially in the financial sector, are responding to environmental and social risks is becoming more sophisticated and more prominent. Siobhan Toohill, group head of sustainability at Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) in Sydney, says collaboration between industry participants is taking progress to a new level.
  • Opening transition pathways

    KangaNews talks to Yo Takatsuki, head of ESG research at AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) in London, about the ground-breaking guidelines for transition bonds his firm published in June 2019. Takatsuki was instrumental in formulating the guidelines. He shares his insights into the urgency of opening up the transition pathway so carbon-intensive industries are encouraged to work towards aligning...
  • Sustainable finance heads to the mainstream

    Australia has come a long way in the evolution of sustainable finance. Participants at the annual roundtable for the KangaNews Investing with Impact Yearbook agree that the conversation is moving towards a holistic assessment of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance as opposed to a narrow focus on use-of-proceeds products. There is also bigger emphasis on transition in the sustainable-finance...
  • The route to the future

    As part of a rare and brief visit to Australia in December 2019, Marilyn Ceci, managing director and head of green bonds at J.P. Morgan in New York, met with KangaNews. Ceci does not predict that use-of-proceeds sustainable bonds will give way to general-corporate-purposes issuance with an environmental, social and governance (ESG) overlay. She views the urgency of the low-carbon-economy transition to be such that...
  • Will the smoke clear?

    Transition is the theme of the day in global sustainable debt, and Australian capital markets are adopting the idea that funding environmental and social evolution across the economy is the next frontier of development. But they are hamstrung by retrograde government behaviour – especially in the environmental space.
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