FAJARDO We have approximately A$6 billion (US$4.2 billion) in our green-bond project pool and we have close to A$2.5 billion of green bonds on issue. So we certainly have capacity for further issuance.

We are seeing a lot of interest and enquiry from domestic and offshore investors for our green bonds so it’s more likely to become a supply issue than one of demand. We continuously review and evaluate projects for inclusion but it’s uncertain whether the expansion of the pool will meet future demand.

We have been working hard on how we as an issuer can increase the liquidity of the product. What we’ve done, as a programmatic issuer, is enable investors to access existing bonds through reverse enquiry. We have also provided stock-lending facilities to our dealers and have done four taps of our 2029 green bond.

Labelled social funding is something we have taken an interest in as government initiatives resulting from COVID-19 have focused on the social side. I think our investors are well aware of the importance the Queensland government places on social aspects such as health, education and job security, and our role in funding these requirements via our benchmark bond programme. The increasing awareness and visibility of social spending has further strengthened investors’ understanding in this area.

Our green-bond programme was established to engage investors on the environmental side of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues happening in the state.

Having Climate Bonds Initiative certification for the programme is only made possible by maintaining a separate green-labelled product. We believe this provides investors with a greater level of assurance when investing in our green bonds.

As the landscape continues to evolve in the GSS space, we remain adaptive to investor feedback and market developments in a number of areas – including whether a standalone social-bond programme would complement our green-bond offering.

TRIGONA Yes. Our sustainability-bond programme already incorporates social assets – currently we have about A$550 million of social assets in the pool. But the majority of the pool still comprises green assets.

Some of the increased funding required during the crisis will be used to fund the COVID-19 stimulus package announced by the New South Wales (NSW) government. As the funding will be used to meet social outcomes, we have the ability to increase the asset pool.

We are working with the asset identification group and the NSW Sustainability Committee to identify assets. The key consideration is reporting requirements. We want to make sure that we can report on the assets in the pool for the duration of a bond.

TRIGONA We are engaging with Sustainalytics to ensure the social assets we are considering meet with the revised International Capital Market Association Social Bond Principles. Maintaining the high standards and the integrity of our sustainability-bond programme is paramount.

LOFTING It has been a while since we issued our green bond. If we started today, I think there’s a good chance we would have a programme like TCorp’s, which can include assets across green and social.

We will come back to the market, but it will be a while before we identify the additional assets to go into the pool. We have loans to housing associations, for instance, which would probably be suitable for a social bond. We need to do the work behind the scenes to update both our programme and our asset pool.

It will probably be the second half of the coming financial year before we return to the market.

NICHOLL We have our hands full trying to meet our current financing task, as well as other programmes such as the one we are implementing to support SME lending through nonbank and smaller bank lenders. We are following developments in the market, but responding would require policy direction from government.

GULICH We have a larger programme than anticipated but it is still not very large. There are points on the curve that are a more immediate priority for us.

We have more work to do on GSS issuance. It has been on the back-burner for the last few months, which was when we were hoping to progress it.

However, it is something for which we want to put the groundwork in, by building relationships with the agencies and establishing the criteria for asset identification, reporting and issuance.

We want to have the option to issue in this format, whether it is green, social or a combination. But that point is still a while away.

KENNEDY I have voiced the reasons why we have not rushed to do a green bond in the past and our path remains the same. When we do something we want to do it right including ensuring it encompasses our whole programme. We do not want to isolate the best assets of the state to achieve a short-term, suboptimal outcome.

We are doing substantial investigative work across government to gather enough evidence so our whole programme will meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This will cover everything we do as a state and an issuer, not just a little bit.

Governments should be – and are – socially and environmentally responsible in everything they do, with strong governance and regulatory overlay. So it is about how we best articulate this and put it into a programme to achieve an optimal outcome for the state. Ultimately, investors will understand this approach.