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GREEN BONDS Foto: Göteborg Energi THE BACKGROUND TO GOTHENBURG’S INITIATIVE Gothenburg has moved from being a city of heavy industry with many environmental problems to offering internationally recognised green system solutions. The city has now taken a further important step to facilitate environmental initiatives by issuing Green Bonds, a financial instrument for environmental investments. THE BACKGROUND TO GOTHENBURG’S INITIATIVE The starting shot for the city’s green initiatives goes back to 1987, when the Minister for the Environment called parts of the city “hell’s waiting room”. The response was to set up a special delegation – known as Gothenburg’s Environmental Project – to get to grips with the problem. Many projects and initiatives were then realised within the municipality and the worlds of business, politics and academia. This then led to the Gothenburg region today offering world-class solutions in the fields of energy, sustainable urban development, chemistry, waste and transport. In order to continue investing in climate-oriented solutions, the City of Gothenburg decided to issue Green Bonds, which are bonds dedicated to various environmental projects. Gothenburg was the first city in the world to offer this financial instrument. In September 2013, it issued Green Bonds for SEK 500 million, and a further issue of SEK 1.8 billion was made in June 2014. ABOUT GREEN BONDS Green Bonds are a financial tool designed to counter and reduce the impact of climate change. The initiative comes from the World Bank, which launched these bonds in 2008 as a part of the process of stimulating and coordinating the activities of the public and private sectors aiming to combat the effects of climate change. These bonds mean that capital is dedicated to various green projects. Green Bonds offer the same ROI as other bonds under similar conditions while at the same time contributing to a better environment and greater awareness of climaterelated challenges and solutions. So far, Green Bonds constitute only a tiny part of the total bond market, but they are growing at an explosive rate. In 2014, these bonds were issued to a value of USD 20 billion. In addition, more and more actors are issuing Green Bonds: whereas in the past only institutions such as the World Bank and the European Investment Bank used to issue them, now a whole series of companies are also doing so. RESULTS AND TRENDS The following projects have been financed in Gothenburg by Green Bonds: • Lackarebäck waterworks and cleaning filters – water treatment using ultrafiltration, using the largest ultrafilter ever built in Scandinavia • GoBiGas – large-scale production of biogas by gasification • Electric vehicles for the city’s administrative offices and companies The projects financed via Green Bonds aim to contribute to Gothenburg reaching its environmental targets. AIM The Green Bonds initiative aims to spread the risks in the city’s loan portfolio more widely while at the same time investing in green projects. The aim is for Green Bonds to become a natural part of our environmental work and to become a tool for the City of Gothenburg to reach its environmental and climate targets. The City of Gothenburg has hitherto issued Green Bonds worth SEK 2.3 billion. The idea is to issue new bonds every year. WHY GREEN BONDS ARE IMPORTANT Gothenburg uses Green Bonds to reach investors who want to show their green credentials. This also leads to greater interest in the environmental projects currently under way in Gothenburg. Interest from investors, both in Sweden and internationally, has proved to be tremendous. Although Green Bonds do not lead to more investments, they create a link between investments and the environment and thus speed up green initiatives. WELCOME TO GOTHENBURG! Website: h ttp://finans.goteborg.se/en/greenbonds/ www.greengothenburg.se IN THE GOTHENBURG REGION WE THINK GREENER With roots stretching back to the days of heavy industry, our region has made the successful transition from an industrial heartland, to a greener, cleaner waterfront metropolis. It is this journey that has created a world-leading greentech cluster in the Nordic region. Green Gothenburg shares this environmental know-how, while helping foreign representatives initiate contact with green tech companies in the Gothenburg region. Together, we think greener. A sustainable city. Open to the world. WWW.GREENGOTHENBURG.SE [email protected]