Now that the G-word has been dropped, let’s talk about it, says Stan Dupré
Quoted by Environmental Finance last week, a representative from the green bond investor Nuveen charged that the “SDG-linked bond” recently issued by Italian electricity giant Enel amounted to “greenwashing.”
The first-of-its-kind bond is linked to a commitment to increase the coupon by 25 basis points if the company fails to meet its renewables capacity development targets by the end of 2021. A Nuveen representative argued, “That is not a green bond to us. If you want to issue a green bond, then issue a green bond funding the direct projects that are transitioning them to 55% renewables.” He added, “Effectively, all they have done is pay … an option on not delivering their renewables goals”.
So now that the “G-word” has been dropped, it might be the right time to ask: in many ways, isn’t the ‘green bond’ concept itself a form of greenwashing?
For more, please see the full article on Environmental Finance: https://www.environmental-finance.com/content/analysis/in-response-to-accusations-that-enels-sdg-bond-was-greenwashing.html
