Stockholm (NordSIP) – The Baltic Republic of Lithuania will issue its first green bonds this Friday, May 3 2018. The sovereign green bonds will be admitted to the Baltic Bond List by Nasdaq Vilnius.
The issue will have a maturity of ten years, to be redeemed on May 3 2028, and have a nominal value of €100. Lithuania’s government will use the funds to improve the energy efficiency in apartment buildings, thereby modernising them.
“We are pleased to present Lithuanian investors with green bonds issued by the government,” commented Lithuania Minister of Finance Vilius Šapoka.
“We are thus increasing the opportunities for Lithuanian capital market participants to contribute to the financing of green projects. Interest in green bonds is growing rapidly worldwide – it’s a global process.”
“I am happy that we are also moving in this progressive direction and developing a green bond market in the country,” Šapoka added.
Green bonds are typically used to finance green projects that address key environmental issues, such as climate change, the depletion of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, and air, water or soil pollution.
(Read NordSIP’s Green Bonds 101 here)
The increased energy efficiency that will be part of the apartment renovation in Lithuania will contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions and heating costs.
Saulius Malinauskas, the President of Nasdaq Vilnius, welcomed the bond issue:
“We very much welcome the Lithuanian government’s decision to issue green bonds and to include them on the Nasdaq Baltic Bond List. This is the first issue of sovereign debt securities of its kind in the Baltics. We are delighted by our long-term cooperation with Lithuania’s Ministry of Finance and we believe that the green bonds will help further simulate investor interest in the Baltic region,” Malinauskas said.
Nasdaq Baltic represents the common offering of the Nasdaq Tallinn, Nasdqa Riga and Nasdaq Vilnius securities exchanges.
Malinauskas added that the Lithuania’s listing of its green bonds on the Nasdaq Baltic market is “an important milestone” for the region’s investors and markets in terms of creating opportunities for sustainable investments.
The rapid emergence of the green bond market in the Nordics points towards the special emphasis being placed on green finance by European capital markets, he said.
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