Global financial services company Citi announced today a new sustainable finance milestone, surpassing $25 billion of financing for Asia Pacific clients in H1 2021, increasing more than 400% compared to the same period last year.
With the surge in volumes, Citi also noted the development of a “greenium” in the form of favorable pricing for sustainable bond issues, as growing investor demand drives higher oversubscription levels for these transactions. According to Citi, issuers in many cases can now raise cheaper financing via the issuance of green bonds.
The new milestone follows a commitment made by Citi earlier this year to drive $1 trillion of sustainable finance by 2030, including includes a goal to deploy $500 billion to environmentalEnvironmental criteria consider how a company performs as a steward of nature. More finance, while also targeting other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including education, affordable housing, health care, economic inclusion, community finance, international development finance, racial and ethnic diversity and gender equality.
Citi’s 2021 Asia Pacific sustainable financing activities include offerings from Alibaba Group, SK Hynix, and a sukuk for the Republic of Indonesia.
Peter Babej, Citi Asia Pacific CEO, said:
“As a global, value-driven firm, we are dedicated to supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy. We view sustainable financing both as a mandate and as an opportunity to partner with our clients across geographies — to help them decarbonize their operations and achieve their enterprise sustainability goals.”
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