Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Water scarcity
• Environmental protection
• Sustainable agriculture
• Impact investing

Environmental Achievements

• Launched Water Sharing Investment Partnerships (WSIPs) to restore water flows to depleted freshwater and estuarine ecosystems.
• Invested approximately AUD$27 million (USD$20 million) in the Murray-Darling Basin Balanced Water Fund in Australia to restore thousands of hectares of wetlands.

Social Achievements

• Improved water productivity and allocation efficiency, increasing revenue generation in local economies.
• Provided new revenue streams for farmers through water sales and leases.
• Supported rural communities by providing financial incentives for water-saving measures.

Governance Achievements

• Advocated for water policy and regulatory reforms to enable high-functioning water markets.
• Developed a model for Water Sharing Investment Partnerships that integrates public and private efforts to alleviate water scarcity.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Water scarcity is a major issue for nearly half of the world’s population.
• Over-exploitation of water resources is damaging freshwater and estuarine ecosystems.
• Traditional supply-side approaches to water management are becoming increasingly expensive and unsustainable.
• Climate change is exacerbating water scarcity in many regions.

Mitigation Strategies

• Developed Water Sharing Investment Partnerships (WSIPs) to leverage private investment for water conservation and ecosystem restoration.
• Promoted water markets to incentivize water savings and efficient allocation.
• Advocated for water policy reforms to enable water trading and protect environmental flows.
• Supported investments in water-saving measures in irrigated agriculture.

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Droughts
• Reduced river flows
• Groundwater depletion

Opportunities

• Investments in water-saving measures
• Water markets

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
• Goal 13: Climate Action
• Goal 15: Life on Land

The initiatives contribute to these goals by promoting sustainable water management, reducing water scarcity, and restoring ecosystems.

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Climate Change
• Social
• Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Green bonds demonstrated enduring appeal, with issuance shrinkage limited to 10% despite overall market decline.
• Green bond segment hit the $2 trillion milestone (cumulative issuance since 2008) by the end of Q3 2022.
• Increased issuance from financial institutions in sustainable bonds (approximately 21% to around $187.5 billion).

Social Achievements

• Chile and Uruguay issued debut sovereign SLBs.
• Fannie Mae launched use of positive rent payment history in underwriting, helping borrowers with limited credit histories access homeownership.
• Fannie Mae's Single-Family Social Index provides insights into socially oriented lending while protecting borrower privacy.

Governance Achievements

• Increased scrutiny of ambition and materiality of targets associated with SLBs.
• Growing pressure on issuers to increase the ambition of targets and materiality of pricing benefits and penalties in target-linked bonds.
• Increased focus on defining credible and comprehensive transition plans to build market confidence in SLBs and other instruments.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Overall GSSS bond issuance shrank 15% in 2022 due to geopolitical conflict and inflation.
• SLB market shrank nearly a quarter to $74 billion in 2022 due to rising scrutiny of target ambition and materiality.
• Greenwashing concerns and reputational risks pose a threat to issuance.
• Lack of standardisation in the sustainable bond market.
• Materiality of KPIs and ambitiousness of targets in SLTs.
• Lack of transparency in private SLL transactions.
• Uncertainty in macroeconomic outlook and geopolitical risks.
• Challenges in defining transition finance and acceptable minimum transition requirements.
• Concerns around greenwashing in SLBs and transition bonds.
• Lack of universally accepted definitions and taxonomies for transition finance.

Mitigation Strategies

• Increased scrutiny of transactions and frameworks to ensure sustainability.
• Push for standardisation of KPIs (ICMA KPI registry).
• Focus on material KPIs and ambitious SPTs in SLTs.
• Increased demand for second party opinions (SPOs) in SLLs.
• Focus on high-quality disclosure on material topics.
• Development of regulations and standards by market bodies (ICMA, LMA, ISSB, etc.).
• Greater focus on defining credible and comprehensive transition plans.
• Development of transition finance guidelines and sector-specific technology roadmaps (e.g., Japan).
• Harmonisation of green and sustainable taxonomies (e.g., Singapore, Australia).
• Increased use of external reviews (SPOs) to demonstrate credibility.

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement

• Not disclosed

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Extreme weather events, flooding

Transition Risks

• Regulatory changes, market shifts

Opportunities

• Development of energy-efficient products and technologies

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: ICMA Green Bond Principles, ICMA Social Bond Principles, ICMA Sustainability Bond Guidelines, SASB, TCFD, EU Taxonomy, EU Green Bond Standard (EU GBS)

Certifications: Null

Third-party Assurance: Not disclosed

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy
• Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities
• Goal 13: Climate action

Many sustainable bonds align with these SDGs, particularly those focused on green projects.

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• Not disclosed

Awards & Recognition

• Not disclosed