1、Sustainable Finance The rise of green loans and sustainability linked lending 3Linklaters Executive summary 5 Development of green and sustainability linked loans 7 Market activity 11 Trends in green and sustainability linked loans 15 What is driving the rise of green and sustainability linked finan
2、ce? 19 Changes to prudential regulation 23 Market leading expertise 25 Appendix 27 Key contacts 30 Contents Executive summary 4Powering the future Executive summary Green and sustainability linked loans are a hot topic in the loan markets. They are a relatively recent innovation, but volumes have ri
3、sen dramatically over the past few years to over US$99bn in 2018. The rise of green and sustainability linked loans signals the early stages of a fundamental shift in the wider economy. At first, there were no recognised market standards to help determine what qualifies as a green or sustainability
4、linked loan. While the Green Bond Principles first published by the International Capital Markets Association in January 2014 were a useful indication of the direction being taken in the capital markets, they focussed on bonds rather than loans, and on green use of proceeds rather than sustainabilit
5、y. In the loan markets, the Equator Principles have long been used by financial institutions for managing environmental, social and governance risks in the project finance market, but their application was limited in the wider loan markets. Without the benefit of recognised market standards there wa
6、s a risk of diverging approaches being taken on what amounts to a green or sustainability linked loan. At its worst, that risked loans being presented as green or sustainability linked, when in reality they were little different to an ordinary loan, sometimes referred to as “green washing”. Market s