Nuveen's environmental, social and governance (ESG)/Impact fixed income team manages $21.9 billion of intentional mandates, including $10.3 billion of securities that qualify for Nuveen's Public Markets Impact Framework as of September 2024.
The framework's themes are: affordable housing, community and economic development, renewable energy and climate change, and natural resources.
The asset manager says its focus is on financing positive societal and/or environmental outcomes via the public fixed income market, ensuring relevant and transparent impact reporting, and without sacrificing performance.
"The environment impacts society, which impacts the economy," said Stephen Liberatore, portfolio manager and head of the ESG/impact fixed team.
In 2024, Nuveen was lead order in the World Bank's Amazon reforestation bond. The bond is the first to link investors' financial returns to the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere, via carbon removal credits generated by the project. Proceeds from the transaction will be used to acquire land, or enter into partnerships with landowners, to reforest with native tree species.
The project is expected to remove two million tons of carbon dioxide over 50 years, while also enhancing biodiversity and stimulating economic development in local communities. Nuveen believes removal (and reduction) credits to be more desirable and less controversial than avoidance credits.
Elsewhere Nuveen was also lead investor or anchor order in the Ecuador/Galapagos debt-for-nature swap and Sunnova's asset backed security (ABS) to finance residential solar for households in disadvantaged communities in the US and Puerto Rico.
"An impressive breadth and depth in terms of types of deals, financing structures deployed and impact outcomes managed, measured and reported," commented one Environmental Finance Awards judge.
Since the start of 2023 to September 2024 Nuveen's impact fixed income team has conducted more than 190 engagements with issuers and underwriters primarily to ensure that deals are brought to market with clearly defined use of proceeds and transparent outcomes-based reporting.