The EU's Green Taxonomy and the Rise of Social Bonds in Asia

• This will undermine the credibility of the EU’s green labels to some extent

• If we were to compare to a food labelling scheme, of course there would be outrage if a product was labelled as dairy free but actually contained a dairy product.

• Social bond issuance has gained much more prominence during the Covid pandemic with the resulting global inequality driving an agenda of a ‘just transition’

In this episode of ESG360, we discuss green taxonomies with Andrew Bowley, wholesale governance officer at Nomura. In a controversial move, the EU has allowed natural gas and nuclear into its green taxonomy. The decision has caused uproar among climate activists who accuse policy-makers of greenwashing and undermining efforts to accelerate the green transition. We also discuss social bonds with Nomura’s Mark Yeomans, a specialist in ESG debt. Asia’s social bond market has been rising rapidly amid a flurry of recent deals including a health bond for the Asian Development Bank fueling optimism in the region after the setback of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Contributors

Andrew Bowley

Wholesale Governance Officer

Mark Yeomans

Managing Director, DCM Public Sector Team