HSBC was the biggest underwriter of sustainability bonds in the first half of 2018, according to figures from Environmental Finance.
The bank was involved with several deals in the first six months of the year, including a HK$3 billion ($382.3 million) issue from Bank of China, ANZ Bank's €750 million ($928.8 million) issue, Banobras's MXN 10 billion ($536.9 million) issue, and €500 million transactions from the Basque government and Region Ile de France.
Environmental Finance's database categorises sustainability bonds as those that have a label that denotes a mixture of green and social projects, or that refers specifically to sustainability.
The bank's head of sustainable bonds for the EMEA region, Victoria Clarke, said HSBC's conversations with issuers often include all three bond labels – green, social and sustainability – "especially as issuers want to improve investors' awareness of their broader sustainability commitments and strategies".
"We firmly believe social and sustainability bonds are as important as green bonds in helping our clients transition their business," she said. "Our clients are global and really cover the full universe of operational activities. As such, there is not a 'one size fits all' answer for the transition to a low-carbon economy, or indeed for helping reduce global societal stresses/pressures."
She pointed out that HSBC is a key contributor to the Green and Social Bond Principles executive committee and, the social bonds working group.
"In fact, as part of this effort, we were the bank that created the mapping of the Sustainable Development Goals to the Green Bond Principles and Social Bond Principles – to demonstrate the alignment across green, social and sustainability issues."
|
Sustainability bonds: lead managers for H1 issues | |
|---|---|
| Lead manager | Volume ($M) |
| HSBC | 1,518 |
| Crédit Agricole CIB | 1,396 |
| LBBW / Rabobank / Unicredit | 499 |
| Barclays | 478 |
| Bank of America Merrill Lynch | 475 |
| BBVA | 470 |
| BMO Capital Markets | 402 |
| BNP Paribas | 375 |
Methodology: Environmental Finance's database defines green, social and sustainability as three distinct categories, based on the label ascribed by the issuer:
Green: Includes bonds labelled 'green', as well as other green labels such as Climate Awareness Bonds
Social: Includes bonds labelled 'social', as well as other social labels such as Education, Youth and Employment bonds.
Sustainability: Includes bonds labelled 'sustainable' or 'sustainability' , as well as other labels such as bonds aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. This category does not include bonds in either of the previous two categories.