Green Bond issuance tracked

(by Verity Mitchell)

Since 2017, water companies in England have played a significant role in the UK's green finance sector, issuing approximately one fifth of the UK’s green bonds. This amounts to £10.5bn in bonds dedicated to supporting projects described as delivering environmental benefits, according to research conducted by Unearthed, an investigative unit within Greenpeace UK.

Anglian Water has been the largest issuer in the sector, issuing £3.5bn in green bonds, while Thames Water is at £3.1bn. These figures place the two companies as the third- and sixth-largest issuers of corporate green bonds in the country over this period.

The proceeds from these bonds have been allocated to a broad range of activities, including the installation of water meters, improvements in energy efficiency, efforts to increase water supplies, and various conservation initiatives.

The Unearthed unit questioned whether the deployment of these funds since 2017 have actually delivered measurable improvements for the environment or, in some cases, simply been used for debt refinancing or other mandated expenditure.