R1.09bn Green Bond, anchor invested by the International Finance Corporation

In partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Nedbank Limited issued a R1,09 billion green bond to facilitate and support EDGE certified residential housing developments in South Africa.

This is the first green bond by a commercial bank in Africa focussed on green residential housing developments in the low to middle income space and will contribute to South Africa’s reduced emissions and targets. It increases the availability of financing to boost the green building market which is seen as critical while contributing to economic recovery and addressing the large housing deficit in the country.

Nedbank is now able to expand its portfolio of green buildings under the IFC’s Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) program, which makes it easy to design and certify resource-efficient and zero carbon buildings.  The Bank also benefits from the IFC’s advisory services, which include EDGE tool training and certification support for the bank and prospective developers to be financed with the bond proceeds.

The transaction tapped into blend financing channelled by a UK government sponsored programme called the Market Accelerator for Green Construction (MAGC). MAGC has agreed to provide a performance-based incentive (PBI) to assist new and existing local developers in partly offsetting greening and EDGE certification costs. MAGC helps scale green construction across emerging markets by incentivising financial intermediaries to develop and introduce new green building finance products.

The collaboration between IFC and Nedbank in this ground-breaking issuance set a prime example of how the capital markets can be used as a vehicle to structure sustainable finance solutions to attract investment that will move green development forward.