UK’s first green gilt draws record $137 billion demand

David Milliken and Yoruk Bahceli

London: Britain sold 10 billion pounds of its first ‘green’ government bond on Tuesday after attracting over 100 billion pounds ($137 billion) of demand from investors, a record high which shows the clamour for assets which can be marketed as good for the planet.

Proceeds from the sale will be ring-fenced for projects such as clean energy, and will also help Britain’s government burnish its green credentials before it hosts the United Nations COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in November.

Britain has lagged behind other European countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain in issuing this type of debt, partly because of concern that investors would want higher interest rates to compensate for a relative lack of liquidity.

But Tuesday’s launch of a new gilt maturing in July 2033 represents the largest single sale by a sovereign issuer, topping the previous 8.5 billion euro record set by Italy in March.

“It’s confirmation that the demand is there even in sterling, not just in euros,” said Antoine Bouvet, senior rates strategist at ING.

Based on the secondary market, he estimated the deal was pricing in a roughly 3 basis point “greenium” — the slightly lower yield green bonds offer versus conventional debt, usually driven by a dedicated investor base chasing a limited supply of these assets.

Britain has said it aims to raise around 15 billion pounds in total from two green gilt launches this year – Tuesday’s sale and a new 20- to 30-year maturity green gilt next month.

This issuance will be only a small fraction of the total 253 billion pounds of gilt sales planned for this financial year.

The new 2033 gilt will pay a coupon of 0.875% and will be priced to yield 7.5 basis points more than the conventional June 2032 gilt, a yield premium which reflects the longer maturity rather than a lack of liquidity for the new issue.

The Bank of England has said it will buy the green bonds as part of its asset purchase programme and treat them like similar conventional ones.