Hood River, Oregon, May 29, 2024 – Climate Bonds Initiative today recognized Kestrel as the winner for Largest External Review Provider in Number of Deals in the 9th Climate Bonds Awards. Award announcements were made in a video, which will also be shown at the Climate Bonds Initiative Global Conference in London on October 24, 2024.
Kestrel became a Climate Bonds Initiative Approved Verifier in late 2017. Today, Kestrel is the market leader for external reviews on green, social and sustainability bonds in US Public Finance, helping to lead the transition to a low-carbon economy. Our firm also provides external reviews on corporate bonds, loans, and other types of debt, and verification of assets and entities for being transition-aligned.
“We have worked hard to help grow the market for green, social and sustainability bonds in the US. Many of our engagements finance best practices for climate change mitigation, resilience and adaptation. We also have a strong practice in verifying social bonds, which are critical to advancing the Just Transition. This means greening the economy in a way that is as fair and inclusive as possible, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind,” said Monica Reid, CEO of Kestrel. “We appreciate that CBI has recognized the achievements and innovation delivered by the Kestrel Team.”
About Kestrel
Kestrel provides Sustainability Intelligence™ for municipal markets, helping to set the market standard for sustainable finance. Kestrel is a leading provider of external reviews for green, social and sustainability bond transactions and a Climate Bonds Initiative Approved Verifier. The company is qualified to evaluate corporate and municipal bonds, as well as the issuers, in all asset classes worldwide for conformance with international green and social bond standards. Kestrel also provides Sustainability Analysis and Scores of bonds in the US municipal market.
Kestrel Sustainability Intelligence™ is now available on the Bloomberg Terminal and via Bloomberg Data License
Hood River, Oregon, March 28, 2024 – Kestrel today announced that its Sustainability Analysis and ESG Impact Scores are now accessible on the Bloomberg Terminal and available for Data License subscribers, complementing Bloomberg’s existing ESG data sets.
Kestrel’s offering is the first sustainability solution to tackle the entire municipal market at the series level. It serves as an ESG benchmark and provides original analysis and transparency on issuers’ concrete actions to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and incorporate sustainability in their bond-financed activities. Kestrel also reveals the presence of sector-specific risk mitigants and resilience features. By using over 100 distinct methodologies, Kestrel assesses municipal bonds with a focus on materiality. Scores range from 1 (low) to 5 (high) and reflect best practices for sustainability, ESG impact, and risk mitigation.
Bloomberg customers can view Kestrel’s numeric ESG Impact Scores, and Bloomberg Terminal users who subscribe to Kestrel will have access to unique and actionable sustainability intelligence. These insights include information on uses of proceeds, risk mitigants and impact, sources of repayment and potential flashpoints, alignment with UN SDGs at the target level, and eligibility for green, social or sustainability bond designation, regardless of whether the bond is labeled at issuance.
Kestrel covers all Municipal Primary Market deals that are rated investment grade A or better and $20 million par or greater. Coverage of the secondary market is currently over $2.0 trillion par and is continuously expanding.
“Kestrel has been at the forefront of providing sustainability intelligence on US Public Finance with our Second Party Opinions and reporting on green, social, and sustainability bonds,” said Monica Reid, CEO of Kestrel. “We are excited to offer our comprehensive sustainability analysis and ESG Impact Scores covering the entire muni market at the series level on the Bloomberg Terminal. We aim to empower investors with sustainability insights and new information to help them accurately price risk. Our offering reveals sustainability attributes and risk mitigants in bond-financed activities, and we are the first in the market to do this. With their focus on sustainable finance solutions, Bloomberg was a natural fit to help get this in the hands of investors. In light of the shifting regulatory landscape and the demand for long-term risk-adjusted returns, investors need the full picture of ESG in terms of sustainability and risk mitigants. Kestrel’s insights are useful for all types of investments, not just ESG focused ones.”
Subscribers to the Bloomberg Terminal can review Bloomberg’s ESG Solutions, including Kestrel’s data, at {BESG <GO>}.
About Kestrel
Kestrel provides Sustainability Intelligence™ for municipal markets, helping to set the market standard for sustainable finance. Kestrel is a leading provider of external reviews for green, social and sustainability bond transactions and a Climate Bonds Initiative Approved Verifier. The company is qualified to evaluate corporate and municipal bonds, as well as the issuers, in all asset classes worldwide for conformance with international green and social bond standards.
Hood River, Oregon, March 6, 2024 – Kestrel announced today that Build America Mutual, a leading insurer of US municipal bonds, has selected Kestrel’s Sustainability Intelligence data for enterprise-wide use. Kestrel’s data will enhance BAM’s existing credit underwriting and risk management processes, with a particular focus on identifying municipal bond issuers that are taking proactive steps to improve their communities’ long-term resilience, including the ability to recover from damage caused by natural disasters.
“Kestrel’s data is valuable because it matches our granular focus on individual issuers and helps our underwriters identify long-term risks,” said BAM Chief Risk Officer Laura Levenstein. “BAM’s guaranty is unconditional and irrevocable for the life of the bonds we insure and is backed with deep credit analysis on each credit.”
Kestrel’s offering is the first sustainability solution to tackle the entire municipal market at the series level. It serves as a benchmark and provides original analysis and transparency on issuers’ concrete actions to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and incorporate sustainability in bond-financed activities. Kestrel also reveals the presence of sector-specific risk mitigants. By using over 100 distinct methodologies, Kestrel assesses municipal bonds for sustainability and impact with a focus on materiality. To support their research and commitment to transparency BAM sought a sustainability data provider that could deliver high-quality, comprehensive coverage at the series level.
“Kestrel has been at the forefront of providing sustainability intelligence on US Public Finance with our Second Party Opinions and reporting on green, social, and sustainability bonds,” said Monica Reid, CEO of Kestrel. “We aim to empower insurers, investors, and other market participants with sustainability insights and new information to help them accurately price risk. Our offering reveals sustainability attributes and risk mitigants in bond-financed activities, and we are the first in the market to do this. With their focus on transparency and purpose of providing a financial guaranty to lower issuers’ cost of borrowing, BAM was a natural fit for our data and analytics. In light of the shifting regulatory landscape and the demand for long-term risk-adjusted returns, investors need the full picture in terms of sustainability fundamentals and risk mitigants.”
About Build America Mutual
BAM is a mutual bond insurance company operated for the benefit of its members – the cities, states, and other municipal entities that use BAM’s financial guaranty to lower their cost of borrowing. BAM is the preferred provider of bond insurance for the National League of Cities. As of December 31, 2024, BAM’s insured par outstanding totaled more than $100 billion for more than 5,000 municipal issuer-members from 49 states. Learn more at buildamerica.com/about-bam
About Kestrel
Kestrel provides Sustainability Intelligence™ for municipal markets, helping to set the market standard for sustainable finance. Kestrel is a leading provider of external reviews for green, social, and sustainability bond transactions and a Climate Bonds Initiative Approved Verifier. The company is qualified to evaluate corporate and municipal bonds, as well as the issuers, in all asset classes worldwide for conformance with international green and social bond standards.