Apple Inc. has issued a US$1.5-billion green bond, the biggest in the country’s history, to finance projects in renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, green buildings, and resource conservation.
“This will allow investors to show they will put their money where their hearts and concerns are,” said Lisa Jackson, the company’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives. She said Apple introduced the bond after seeing hundreds of companies promise to green their investments during the United Nations climate summit last December.
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“Moody’s Investor Services said earlier this month it expects to see the issuance of green bonds rise to over US$50 billion this year, following a record US$42.4 billion issuance in 2015 due to the global climate change agreement reached in Paris,” Reuters reports. But “some investors have said the green bond market has been hamstrung by a lack of commonly agreed standards on what constitutes a green bond and transparency about how proceeds from sales are used.”
Apple’s bond will adhere to the Green Bond Principles set by a group of financial institutions that includes BlackRock Inc. and JPMorgan Chase. The company is expected to spend more than half of the money in the next two years.
