Awards for Excellence 2018
For our best bank for sustainable finance award, HSBC edges BNP Paribas and BAML for the range of its deals and its involvement in industry bodies that are furthering sustainable finance.
First, the deals. The headlines went to the first Belt and Road climate bond, a triple-tranche deal from ICBC; the first sovereign green sukuk, a $1.25 billion print from Indonesia; and China Resources’ acquisition of a 30% stake in the Dudgeon offshore wind farm off the UK coast, plus of course HSBC’s own $1 billion Sustainable Development Goals bond.
But perhaps the most interesting deal was one that some would not consider green at all, a $500 million energy transition bond for Capco, a subsidiary of Hong Kong power group CLP.
This is not a pure green bond because it finances a hydrocarbon-powered plant, a gas turbine generation unit at Black Point Power Station in Hong Kong. But building the plant will mean a lower level of carbon emissions intensity relative to the way CLP generates electricity today.