Credit: LuxSE
On Monday 12 September 2022, a Ring the Bell ceremony at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) was organised for KfW’s green bonds, which reached the €50 billion milestone in total green bond issuance since 2014.
The KfW is a promotional bank owned by the Federal Republic of Germany and the German federal states, has the reference listing for its green bonds at the LuxSE.
“As a leading issuer of green bonds, KfW has provided financing for multiple projects with significant environmental benefits and greatly contributed to the development of the global green bond market. We are proud to serve as the chosen listing venue for KfW’s green bonds and we commend KfW’s contribution to the development of industry standards for sustainable finance, and its focus on impact reporting. If we are to curb climate change, green finance must remain a priority,” said Julie Becker, CEO of LuxSE.
In the Top 10
KfW issued its first green bond eight years ago and has since issued about 100 green bonds raising an equivalent of €50 billion for green projects. Its significant green funding programme makes KfW one of the ten largest sustainable bond issuers in the world. Since 2014, the great majority of the Green Bonds - Made by KfW have been listed on LuxSE and displayed on the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), the world’s leading platform for sustainable securities established by LuxSE in 2016.
“Green Bonds – Made by KfW are the most liquid green bonds in the segment. Moving the issuance size of our green bonds to €3 billion to €5 billion has been a major step to bring this market out of niche. Green bonds play an essential role in promoting sustainability on the capital market. We are happy to provide investors with a product that offers investment opportunities in green projects and thus help to channel capital into areas that contribute to the sustainable transformation,” explained Petra Wehlert, Head of Capital Market at KfW.
Shaping the green bond market
Since 2014, KfW has issued green bonds in fourteen different currencies, offering a range of different maturities, thereby contributing to developing and diversifying capital market activity for green bonds.
While some of KfW’s initial green bonds have already matured, 37 of them are currently listed and tradable on LuxSE, raising the equivalent of €44 billion for green projects. Initially, funds equal to the net proceeds from KfW’s green bonds were exclusively linked to renewable energy projects across Germany. During the last years, KfW updated its green bond framework twice and extended it by two further project categories: energy-efficient construction and clean transportation. The latest update was made at the beginning of 2022.
KfW was established in 1948 and was given a legal mandate to finance and promote sustainable development. KfW has listed its bonds on LuxSE since 1990, but the cooperation between the two institutions has strengthened over the past few years through their joint focus on accelerating the sustainable finance agenda and contributing to environmental and climate goals.
