Online articles

• ASFI hails industry consensus in key milestone for Australian sustainable finance taxonomy

  The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute published the final recommendations report for the forthcoming local sustainable finance taxonomy on 27 March, lauding “broad consensus across the finance sector, industry, civil society and real economy actors” on its key design elements. The main evolution of the taxonomy during its design phase is greater demand that the document should be flexible to accommodate...

• ASIC turns the screws on greenwashing in enforcement push

  Increased engagement with sustainability is leading to growing awareness of greenwashing risk – the potential for environmental credentials to be overstated or misrepresented. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is prioritising greenwashing surveillance and enforcement, supported for the first time by a more coherent policy backdrop.

• Asset scale and state sustainability commitment key for WATC ahead of green-bond roadshow

  Western Australian Treasury Corporation will begin a global roadshow in late May ahead of its planned debut green-bond transaction, with the state funding agency highlighting the interoperability advantages of a largely government-owned asset base. Labelled bond issuance will be limited by the relatively small size of the state’s funding need rather than availability of qualifying assets.

• Blockchain breakthrough

  Green bonds have surged in use in recent years, but the future growth and effectiveness of the market is threatened by difficulties aligning the credit quality of an issuer and ensuring proceeds are used to fund green projects. In the first of a pair of articles discussing the cutting edge of sustainable finance, King & Wood Mallesons partners Jo Dodd, Urszula McCormack and Dale Rayner discuss tech-based...

• Credibility and additionality top investors’ AOFM GSS considerations

  In the wake of the Australian federal government’s long-awaited decision to initiate the process toward the issuance of sovereign sustainability bonds, KangaNews surveyed local investors on what they want to see from a sovereign green-bond programme. The answers – and further detail provided by some buy-side accounts – show what the Australian Office of Financial Management may need to consider as it ramps up its...

• Eyes turn from mitigation to adaptation as climate risk becomes certainty

  The primary focus of sustainable finance has traditionally been climate change mitigation: providing capital to decarbonise the economy and thus, it is hoped, minimise the scale of global heating. But with higher temperatures baked in – and more warming guaranteed to come – swathes of Australia increasingly need financing solutions to respond to climate change that is already here.

• Finance and the heavy lifting of sustainable transition

  The KangaNews Sustainable Debt Summit 2023 featured its most wide-ranging agenda ever, taking in hot button topics across the sustainable finance landscape. Sessions covered carbon offsetting and trading, the rise of biodiversity as a focus area, the shift from mitigation finance to also include adaptation, as well as a raft of other critical areas of concern.

• LGFA finds ample support for comingled asset pool in sustainable debut

  New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency built its Sustainable Financing Bond Framework on two asset types: use-of-proceeds and sustainability-linked loans to local councils. The issuer attracted a jumbo book to its debut transaction from the framework, even though the specifics of its programme mean its deals do not fully align with international principles and it is not using the green, social or...

• Nine key trends for sustainability and sustainable financing

  Earlier this year, S&P Global identified nine trends its analysts and researchers expect will shape the sustainability landscape during 2023. Richard Timbs, senior director and sector lead – corporate and infrastructure ratings, Pacific at S&P in Sydney, explains why these trends are so important and what they mean for financing.

• Pathway to sustainable development: legal risks of climate change for the finance sector

  One of the key risks financial institutions face today is the complex legal and regulatory landscape that has developed to address the challenges of climate change. Edwina Kwan, partner at King & Wood Mallesons, explains that the targets of climate litigation have gradually diversified.

• Steps up in Worley’s SLB ambition and Australian corporate reopening

  Worley revived a deal process it initiated in 2022 to debut in the Australian dollar market with a sustainability-linked bond. Issuer and leads say the transaction – which attracted a primarily domestic investor base – demonstrates the underlying robustness of risk appetite in the local credit market, while also allowing the issuer to enhance its own sustainability targets.

• Time to take biodiversity seriously

  Collapsing biodiversity and climate change are intrinsically linked. But climate change alone has been the traditional focus of sustainabile finance. Things are evolving, however, with growing recognition of biodiversity’s importance and the need for capital to take it into account.

• Under the hood of bank energy funding

  At the end of February, BloombergNEF published its first Financing the Transition: Energy Supply Investment and Bank Financing Activity report. It found significant differences between banks in the ratio of funding they are providing to renewable energy relative to their fossil-fuel commitments – including within the Australian big four.

• Where to focus, what to do: the next steps for sustainable finance

  To close the 2023 KangaNews Sustainable Debt Summit, market leaders from Australia and offshore came together to discuss the areas in most need of focus from the sustainable finance industry in the months and years ahead. The sector is diversifying fast and needs to keep building infrastructure to support current and future growth.