IFC readies for launch of NZ's first green Kauri bond

Green bonds are designed to fund environmentally friendly projects, such as wind power. Picture / Supplied

International Finance Corporation (IFC) - part of the World Bank - has mandated the ANZ and the BNZ to manage New Zealand's first green "Kauri" bond issue.

A Kauri bond is a bond denominated in New Zealand dollars that is issued by a foreign issuer.

The transaction was expected to follow in the near future, subject to market conditions, IFC said in a brief note to the New Zealand financial markets.

No other details were available. The green bond market has boomed in the past decade as fund managers move to more specialised, ethical investments.

Green bonds were created to fund projects that have positive environmental climate benefits, and proceeds from them are used to finance or refinance climate-friendly or environmental projects.

The market has been in existence since 2007, when just US$1.5 billion ($2b) was raised worldwide.

Last year, US$95.1b worth of green bonds were issued, up 100 per cent from the previous year.

The market is open to many types of bond issuers - corporates, Governments and semi-government bodies, financial institutions and asset owners.

Early this year, National Australia Bank - BNZ's parent company - priced its first green euro bond, which raised €500 million, the proceeds of which were earmarked for use in renewable energy and low carbon transport projects in Britain, Europe, the Americas and Australia.

The IFC's website says climate change was "a fundamental threat to development in our lifetime", with the potential to force 100 million people into poverty by 2030.

"IFC made a commitment to increase our climate-related investments over the next few years and mobilise US$13b a year in private financing for that kind of projects," IFC said.

IFC was one of the earliest issuers of green bonds and its two benchmark US$1b issues in 2013 set records as the largest green bonds in the market at the time.

To date, IFC has issued US$5.8b in green bonds, the website says.