The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, part of The World Bank, lends to sovereign borrowers (governments) to fund infrastructure in developing countries.

These countries will need an estimated $4 trillion per year in investments up to 2030 to build infrastructure to meet their development needs¹.

Rather than focusing on individual climate projects, this sustainability linked bond takes a holistic approach to integrate climate considerations through the entire economy, sector by sector.

For example, in Angola, The Bank funds the Girls Empowerment, and Learning for All Project. Although the project is focused on improving health outcomes and reducing early drop-out rates, climate-based funding is embedded throughout the project. This includes the training of 840 school managers on climate emergencies, climate change in school curriculum and building schools designed to increase energy efficiency.

SDG contribution

What are SDGs?
 

	Affordable and clean energy
	Climate action

Visit website  

1 The World Bank, 2021. Bonds for Sustainable Development Focus on Climate. Washington: The World Bank, pp.1-25.

The Brighte Green Bond was issued by green lender, Brighte.

Australians want to enjoy the benefits of cheap and reliable renewable energy. The problem is, installing solar panels and batteries in your home has a large upfront cost.

That’s where Brighte comes in. It’s on a mission to increase the adoption of renewable energy technologies across Australian households as a finance provider and marketplace for energy and home improvements. It does so by offering unsecured consumer Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) and green loans to increase the adoption of solar and batteries in households.

The investment from Australian Ethical is being used to finance these loans and re-financing a portfolio of solar receivables which will deliver over 190,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions savings per annum, the equivalent of 80,000 passenger vehicles off the road¹.

So far, Brighte has assisted over 80,000 switches to solar and in 2021 hit $1 billion worth of applications for sustainable home improvements. This green bond will go a long way to enabling more Australian households to unlock the low cost and low emissions afforded by renewable energy.

SDG contribution

What are SDGs?
 

	Affordable and clean energy
	Climate action

Visit website  

1 Brighte, 2022. Brighte Green Trust 2021-1. Sydney: Brighte, p.45.

Optus is the first telecommunications company to issue a sustainability linked bond in the Australian market. The investment from Australian Ethical will finance initiatives to reduce its scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 25 per cent by 2025 and 42 per cent by 2030 (from a 2015 baseline).

In 2019, Optus aligned its decarbonisation objectives to the 1.5-degree scenario of net zero emissions. The problem? It’s capital intensive and time consuming for a legacy business to make changes to its operations and reduce emissions.

The investment from Australian Ethical will contribute to Optus expanding energy efficiency measures across its communications network, including towers infrastructure.

As the first telecommunications company in Australia to raise capital via a sustainability linked bond, our investment in Optus provides a blueprint for how emissions-intensive companies can tap the bond market to reduce their carbon footprints.

SDG contribution

What are SDGs?
 

	Industry, innovation, and infrastructure
	Climate action

Visit website