Crédit Agricole Corporate Investment Bank (CA-CIB) secured the local authority/municipality sustainability bond lead manager of the year award after the French bank played a leading role in a string of debut European issuances from the sector.

According to Environmental Finance Data, CA-CIB held a market-leading presence as the underwriter of local authority/municipality sustainability bonds in 2021 – as total muni sustainability bond issuance jumped a third during the year, compared to 2020 levels. As a result, a judge commended its strong contribution to supporting the growth of the sustainability bond market among these issuers.

In particular, CA-CIB acted on the maiden sustainability bonds from several major issuers.

The bank served a joint lead manager on the €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion) bond from the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia in May and €100 million note from the French Region Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes in October which were also the first sustainable bonds of any label from these issuers. CA-CIB also supported the debut €1 billion sustainability bond from the Spanish Autonomous Community of Andalusia in April, as well as its €500 million return to the market in July.

CA-CIB also managed the debut €100 million sustainability bond from the French Region of Pays de la Loire in October, after having served as lead manager on all its previous green bond issuance since 2018.