Mexico City has won an award after issuing the first green bond in Latin America.
The municipality is one of two local governments selected among a total of ten winners at this year’s Climate Bonds Initiative Awards, and is due to receive the award at London Guildhall on 6 March.
Mexico City issued Latin America’s first municipal green bond in 2016. The US$50 million bond was oversubscribed two and a-half times over, and aims to finance climate-resilient infrastructure and transport in the city. Mexico City is now expected to issue further green bonds in 2017.
Miguel Ángel Mancera Espinosa, mayor of Mexico City, said the city’s efforts to issue the instrument in local currency had followed what he called its responsibility to locate “concrete local solutions” to climate change. He also said the award recognised Mexico City had taken a “decisive and innovative” approach to the issue, emphasising that increasing numbers of cities face similar threats from the damage inflicted by carbon emissions.
Other winners include organisations, financial institutions as well as national governments, all of which were selected in recognition of their commitment to green finance and green market development.
Poland was meanwhile awarded for becoming the first sovereign state to issue a sovereign bond for climate-related projects. Piotr Nowak, deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Finance of Poland, said he hoped the €750 million bond would demonstrate Poland’s commitment to sustainable development and “set a good example” for other states.
Bank of Communications China meanwhile won its award for issuing the largest single green bond of 2016 at US$4.3 billion.
Alba Aguilar, director of new markets development at the Mexican Stock Exchange added:
“To mobilise private capital towards green investments, we created the rules for listing green bonds, which provide standardisation, transparency and credibility to the market.”