Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is a leader in forward-thinking transportation planning. Kestrel’s verification process revealed Metro’s active role in achieving regional climate action goals. The inaugural Climate Bonds will finance improvements to an existing low carbon transportation system and lay critical groundwork for large-scale fleet electrification.
Stanford University became the first US university campus to offer bonds with both Climate and Sustainability Bond designations, demonstrating their comprehensive commitment to sustainability. Kestrel provided external verification of the alignment of the financed activities with the Climate Bonds Standard and the positive social impacts. The projects support exemplary health equity research, housing access, and systemic academic equity initiatives, and enable the continued growth of the University while aligning with the school’s trajectory to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 2030.
To commemorate Earth Day, the Connecticut Green Bank planned a $23.6 million negotiated issuance of state-supported solar home renewable energy credit Green Liberty Bonds. The bank’s inaugural $16 million issuance last July won The Bond Buyer’s annual award for innovative deal of the year. This issuance is the second bond issued under their Climate Bonds Programmatic Framework that was originally verified by Kestrel Verifiers in 2020.
A social bond may represent the next big tool in the impact investor playbook, with a record $154 billion in Social Bonds issued in 2020. Independent verification of the bona fide social benefits derived from the bond-financed activities, like Kestrel Verifiers’ opinion for the social bonds issued by Equitable School Revolving Fund, should alleviate concerns about impact-washing and assure impact investors that their capital is generating a positive social impact.
Kestrel is pleased to share a study we worked on with Steer Davies Gleave for the European Commission to support development of the EU Taxonomy for the Aviation sector. The study results will help the Commission, supported by the Platform on Sustainable Finance, to design a methodology to assess the green impacts of projects and investment in the aviation sector.
Regional Transportation District-Denver (RTD) issued their first Certified Climate Bonds in February 2021. RTD provides transit services to over 3 million people in around Denver, Colorado and refinanced transit system expansion and maintenance projects with the 2021 bond offering that are expected to enable major reductions in transit sector greenhouse gas emissions. As an external reviewer, Kestrel verified that the refinanced projects meet the stringent qualitative standards of the Climate Bonds Initiative’s Transport Criteria.
In an industry first, Connecticut Green Bank is launching a retail climate bond series in which all of the proceeds generated from the roughly $16.1 million issuance will support rooftop solar deployment in the state. Connecticut Green Bank’s new category of climate bond, which it calls “Green Liberty Bonds,” are modeled after the Series-E war bonds that half of all Americans bought during World War II. The Climate Bonds Initiative certified the bonds and Kestrel Verifiers will report on the bonds over time.
PACE Funding Group, LLC, a California-based specialty finance company, announced today that it completed a $ 107 million securitization of residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) assets. The financing supported property improvements for energy efficiency, renewable energy, water conservation, and hurricane resiliency measures. Kestrel Verifiers provided a Second Party Opinion to support the green bonds designation for the senior notes.
Municipal “green bond” designations by various market participants are complicating how investors domestically and internationally view and understand the market for those bonds. Kestrel, a Climate Bonds Initiative Approved Verifier, describes how external reviews following internationally accepted standards help contribute to the standardization and growth of the green bond market.