CBI’s first Green Bond Treasurer Survey supported by Henley Business School academics

Dr Ivan Sangiorgi and Dr Lisa Schopohl from Henley Business School have supported the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) with its first Green Bond Treasurer Survey.

Organisations issue green bonds to raise debt capital to finance or re-finance “green” projects, assets or business activities. The aim of the survey was to identify benefits and challenges of issuing green bonds, and to encourage further bond issuers to enter the green bond market.

CBI interviewed 86 treasurers worldwide who shared their experiences of issuing green bonds. Dr Sangiorgi and Dr Schopohl worked on the statistical analysis of the survey results, which were published yesterday.

Key findings show that issuing green bonds helps enterprises to transition to a low-carbon business model, to broaden their investor base and to enhance their reputation and visibility.

Issuers of green bonds can also benefit from strengthened internal integration and positive changes to internal relationships, for example through close collaboration between various departments.

As well as this, green bonds can encourage better standards to benefit all; many respondents supported the development and implementation of the European Commission’s Sustainable Finance Taxonomy.

Dr Ivan Sangiorgi, Lecturer in Finance at Henley Business School, said:

“The results of this survey suggest that cheaper funding costs are not the main benefit of issuing green bonds for treasurers. Green bond issuers value several intangible benefits, which could ultimately reshape their business model and help organisations to address climate change.”

Dr Lisa Schopohl, Lecturer in Finance at Henley Business School, said:

“Contributing with our research expertise to the analysis of CBI’s Green Bond Treasurer Survey was a great opportunity and we hope that the insights from the survey will help to grow the green bond market and facilitate the transition from a high- to low-carbon economy.”

The Climate Bonds Initiative is an investor-focused not-for-profit organisation, promoting large-scale investment in the low-carbon economy.

View the CBI Green Bond Treasurer Survey.