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As pioneers in the management of impact/ESG investing and fossil fuel free bond portfolios, the team at Community Capital Management (CCM) is committed to sharing thought leadership and educational perspectives. One space we have seen a need for these perspectives is in the research of bonds labeled as “green.” 

As pioneers in income impact investing and fossil fuel free bond portfolios, the team at Community Capital Management (CCM) is committed to sharing thought leadership and educational perspectives. One space we have seen a need for these perspectives is in the research of bonds labeled as “green.”

As investors continue to invest in bonds labeled “green,” the team at Community Capital Management (CCM) is committed to sharing thought leadership and educational perspectives on the space. As pioneers in managing impact/ESG investments and fossil fuel free bond portfolios, we incorporate the “environmental” and “social” aspects of ESG investing in multiple elements of our investment process including a use of proceeds analysis for all impact investments, green bonds included.

Lately, it seems as if high net worth, RIA, family office, and institutional investors may be seeing the world of bonds more and more through green-tinted glasses. In 2017, $155 billion of green bonds were issued, according to the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), a nonprofit that promotes the debt market as a way to raise money for projects related to climate change. CBI expects $250 billion of green bonds to be issued this year, compared with just $3 billion issued in 2012. These figures cover “labeled” green bonds, but what does the label tell investors?

The term “green bond” is receiving more and more attention, not only because of the growing demand for ESG investments, but also because the “green” label is so ambiguous.  Perhaps the lack of a clear definition is partly a result of the approximately $576 billion universe of unlabeled green bonds. Furthermore, as climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies expand rapidly, a concrete definition for “green bonds” will become increasingly difficult to establish. Fortunately, evaluators are looking at ways to tackle this issue by addressing investors’ demand for a more transparent and clear label.

We recently contributed a blog post to AlphaBaskets, AdvisorShares blog, on defining the ‘green’ in a green bond. There continues to be an ongoing debate on labeling. For the investors we speak with, many still aren’t aware that there are bonds in the marketplace, not labeled ‘green’, that are financing remarkable and important environmental projects. You might be wondering what types of bonds finance green initiatives that don’t necessarily have a ‘green’ label? Here are just a few examples of those we purchase: