Green bond volumes in China dropped 21% year on year in 2020 as deal flow from financial issuers slowed down. Against that backdrop, China Development Bank’s Rmb10 billion ($1.6 billion) deal in July 2020 is even more notable, making it the winner of this award.
The deal, a tap of a green bond printed by CDB in late 2019, was the largest green bond in China in 2020, alongside a Rmb10 billion note issued by Huaxia Bank. CDB’s transaction was also the first onshore deal from a policy bank that received green certification from Climate Bonds Initiative.
CDB’s three-year deal was issued across multiple platforms, including China’s interbank market, two stock exchanges, retail banking markets and the Bond Connect scheme. The bond was 15.5 times oversubscribed in the interbank market, and received over Rmb4 billion of orders from overseas. The bond’s coupon rate was 2.4984%.
The deal is significant as it was tagged a climate bond. The proceeds will be used to finance low-carbon transportation projects to reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 912,000 tonnes a year.
More importantly perhaps, CDB’s deal paved the way for similar transactions, which were renamed as carbon-neutrality bonds by China’s interbank market regulator in February 2021.