Columbia Threadneedle Investments manages £24.5bn in responsible investment assets and has been advocating the issuance of UK Gilts with specific use of proceeds since early last year. Simon Bond has been managing social bonds at Columbia Threadneedle for seven years.
“Yesterday the Chancellor gave the green light for green gilts. This is terrific news for the UK economy, our society and the investor community, with plans to issue several green UK sovereign bonds with different maturities next year.
“Green gilts have the potential to scale up the UK’s drive to a net-zero carbon economy and reinforce its reputation as a centre for financial innovation. They can also help ensure that the drive towards net-zero doesn’t come at a cost to those members of society who are least able to bear it, especially following the coronavirus pandemic.
“To that end, I can see green gilts underpin economic recovery and level up infrastructure spending across the country. Proceeds can be directed into projects such as renewable energy provision or better transportation systems. Importantly, those projects will also create much needed green collar jobs. So, it’s not just about the environment - there are huge potential social benefits, too.”
“I’m confident a sterling-denominated UK green gilt will be welcomed by investors and thus help the government raise finance from new sources for environmentally beneficial projects. At Columbia Threadneedle we see significant appetite from pension funds, insurance groups, endowments and family offices around the world for investments that provide a financial return and also support the Sustainable Development Goals. Recent green bond issuance from other countries such as Germany and Sweden has been heavily oversubscribed and seen a lot of interest from UK investors.
“As manager of a social bond investment fund, we have advocated sovereign bond issuance to help directly address environmental and social priorities. I am proud to have been among those investors and asset owners supporting the Green+ Gilt proposal developed by the Impact Investing Institute, the Green Finance Institute and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change & the Environment.”
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