It is a reflection of the rapid growth of the green bond market that when Environmental Finance invited nominations for our Deals of the Year awards in the spring, the Environmental Bond of the Year category attracted a flood of responses.
| Green Bonds Awards 2016 | |
|---|---|
| Category | Winner |
| Bond of the Year - corporate | TenneT |
| Bond of the Year - SSA | Nacional Financiera |
| Bond of the Year - municipal | Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority |
| Bond of the Year - bank | ING Bank |
| Project bond of the Year | Wind MW (Meerwind) |
| Asset-based bond of the Year | Berlin Hyp |
| Special Award for Innovation (Structure) | Yes Bank / IFC 'back-to-back' transaction |
| Special Award for Innovation (Use of Proceeds) | Schneider Electric |
| Initiative of the Year | The Harmonised Framework for Impact Reporting |
| Personality of the Year | Sean Kidney, Climate Bonds Initiative |
| Biggest Issuer (SSA) | European Investment Bank |
| Biggest Issuer (Corporate) | EDF, Toyota, TerraForm Power |
| Biggest Issuer (Bank) | ING Bank |
| Biggest Issuer (Municipality) | Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority |
| Biggest Underwriter | Bank of America Merrill Lynch |
We were overwhelmed by the hundreds of responses we received. With such a huge level of interest, it seemed inappropriate to select just one winner. In addition, selecting winners among such a strong crop of entries proved a real challenge.
So, we have created the Green Bond Awards to honour and celebrate the labelled green bond universe.
We have a total of 15 awards, helping us recognise some of the outstanding issues, issuers and initiatives in 2015.
The winners were selected by Environmental Finance, with the help of the Deals of the Year award entries, and following detailed consultation with many of the leading players in the market.
The awards aim to recognise best practice, or issues that were significant in the development of the market.
The green bond awards have grown organically out of our Deals of the Year awards. But we believe that the market has matured to such an extent that it deserves its own stage.
Next year, we will run the awards again (for 2016). But next time, we want to make them bigger and better. And we are looking for feedback from the market as to how to do this. For example, what categories should we have?
We aim to announce a new set of awards and a judging panel towards the end of the year. And perhaps next year, we could also hold an awards event as well, providing that there is sufficient appetite?
The green bond market continues to grow, evolve, innovate and, most importantly, to channel capital to new projects. Environmental Finance will do all it can to honour it, encourage it, and help it grow in a sustainable way that allows it to meet its enormous potential.
Congratulation to all of 2015's winners. It's been a great start to the year for the green bond market – the crop of candidates for 2016 is already looking formidable.
To go back to the awards page click here.