merrion street

The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure & Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, has today (Wednesday) welcomed the announcement by Euronext, the owners of the Irish Stock Exchange, launching a suite of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) products and services to allow European Capital Markets to fuel sustainable growth.

Euronext Dublin serves as the Euronext Group centre of excellence for Green bonds. With the success of the Euronext Green Bonds offering introduced in November during Ireland’s second Climate Finance Week, today marks a significant expansion in the offering to other ESG-related bonds, including social and sustainability-linked bonds.

Euronext also announced today that it was the first stock exchange to endorse the UN Global Compact Sustainable Oceans Business Group. Blue bonds, which raise capital to finance marine and ocean-based projects are also now included under the ESG bonds section activities from Dublin.

Minister Donohoe stated:

This is a welcome affirmation of the leadership role of the Irish Government through the Ireland for Finance strategy and our work with bodies such as the World Bank to promote sustainable investments. The increase of over 70% in the number of entities issuing Green Bonds from Dublin since November is further evidence that what was a public policy objective is fast becoming a commercial reality.

The Covid-19 crisis has again demonstrated the relevance of ESG-focused bonds, and from March to June 2020 there has been an increase in the number of social and sustainability bonds issued versus the same period last year. This recent issuance includes green, social and sustainability bonds from Financials, Corporates, Municipalities and Local Government Entities.