Green Bond and SDG Housing Bond 2019 Newsletter available

Each year, NWB Bank publishes newsletters to provide the public and investors transparency into the use of proceeds from its sustainable bonds. As of today, both the 2019 Green Bond Newsletter (Water Bond Report) and the 2019 SDG Housing Bond Newsletter (Social Indicator Report) are available.

Since 2014, NWB Bank issues Water Bonds that qualify as Green Bonds. The revenue from those bonds is used to finance water authorities' projects, which contribute to climate mitigation, climate adaptation and biodiversity. In 2018 a further three Water Bonds were issued by our bank totalling €519 million. In this report we follow the Green Bond Principles from the International Capital Market Association (ICMA). These principles have become the leading framework globally for issuance of green bonds.

In 2017, we also entered the social bond market. The proceeds from the Affordable Housing Bonds specifically benefit the financing of social housing. Last year, we rebranded the Affordable Housing Bond into the ‘SDG Housing Bond’ to signal the transition from a social bond to a sustainable bond. The idea is for housing associations to have environmental goals as well as social goals. Our reporting focuses on eight Sustainable Development Goals all of which are linked to social and environmental issues. In 2019 NWB Bank issued three SDG Housing Bonds totalling €2,119 million.