Category: Finance

Recovery Bonds link a country’s borrowing to the targeted deployment of capital, designed to facilitate a low-carbon sustainable recovery that can bring economic, social, and climate priorities together. This paper lays out a prospective blueprint to facilitate the issuance of Recovery Bonds, focusing on two potential use cases: sovereign green bonds as part of issuances financing recovery, and bonds linked to fossil fuel subsidy reform (FFSR).

As seen in the EY Power Transactions and Trends Q1 2019 report, clean energy deals continue to dominate the M&A universe, making up 56% of deal volume and 61% of deal value in Q1 2019. Stakeholders across the power and utilities value chain continue to drive the need for more renewables:

With governments in the APAC increasing their focus on developing low-carbon economies, offshore wind is being included as a key component of their energy transition strategies. Several Asian countries such as China and Japan have achieved early success in offshore development. China, which has already surpassed its 2020 target of 5 GW of offshore wind energy, is now looking to achieve 26 GW by 2024. Countries such as South Korea and Taiwan have set ambitious targets while Vietnam and Australia are actively putting in place regulatory frameworks to promote offshore wind.

During the investment segment of the Leaders Summit on Climate last week, President Biden announced the U.S.’s international climate finance plan. The plan outlines how the US will scale-up international climate finance, with some top-level indications of how much they are aiming to provide over President Biden’s first term. These are smart investments for America that will spur clean energy opportunities around the world, reduce the costs of disasters, and help avoid conflicts.

The momentum towards greening the economy implies transition risks that represent new threats to financial stability. The risk of a run on brown assets, similar to that seen during the subprime crisis, can have widespread destabilising effects.

Access to low cost funding for solar projects is a critical requirement to accelerate the uptake of solar power in Africa. A clear and healthy growth trajectory is only possible with a supportive framework and sufficient funding flows. While regulatory improvements are taking place, albeit at a slower pace, a crucial area to address for the growth of the solar segment in Africa is financing. At REGlobal’s recent virtual conference on “Solar Power in Africa” industry experts presented their vies on solar investments and emerging sources of financing for Africa.

Countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines all fit into this category, with Vietnam potentially offering the greatest immediate opportunities. The OECD forecasts Vietnam’s economy will grow 6.5 per cent over the next five years.