Environmental Finance's Green Bond Awards have grown for the second consecutive year, as the number of categories expands in line with a rapidly expanding market.
There are a total of 32 awards this year, compared to the 25 that were up for grabs last year and 15 the year before.
For example, there is a new award for Social bond of the year, which was won by Nederlandse Waterschapsbank.
The winners were not decided by Environmental Finance but by a panel of judges made up of some of the biggest green bond investors.
The awards, which cover 2017 calendar year, aim to recognise best practice, or issues that were significant in the development of the market, and are the most hotly contested in the green bond space.
Winners include Barclays, which won Green bond of the year in the 'bank' category for its landmark use of property energy efficiency data. It is joined by the Republic of France, which followed its €7 billion issue in January 2017 with subsequent taps that took the total amount raised to about €9.7 billion.
Other notable winners include the City Of Cape Town, which issued a ZAR 74 million ($83 million) green bond to refinance water projects at a time when the country's legislative capital and its surrounding region was suffering a severe drought.
The prestigious Personality of the Year award will be announced tomorrow.
Congratulations to all of 2017's winners. It's been a great start to the year for the green bond market, and the candidates for 2018 are already looking strong.