Tokyo, May 17, 2019—World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD, Aaa/AAA) issued a 13-year SEK 500 million sustainable development bond that highlights the urgent need to address water and oceans pollution, particularly plastic waste in oceans. Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Company (Fukoku Life) was the sole investor in this transaction and Credit Agricole CIB is the sole underwriter and distributor of the bond.
The bonds are the latest in an ongoing initiative by the World Bank to engage with investors and highlight the vital role of the world’s freshwater and marine resources. Freshwater and marine ecosystems cover more than three-quarters of the earth’s surface and provide critical services—from habitats and drinking water to climate control. As the biggest multilateral funder for ocean and water projects in developing countries, the World Bank is committed to working with investors to highlight the critical need to support the sustainable use of ocean and marine resources—including through better waste management.
World Bank has been promoting water and ocean resources in the global capital markets since August 2018. With this new transaction, it has now raised more than USDeq. 1 billion under this initiative.
The World Bank issues around USDeq. 40-50 billion in Sustainable Development Bonds in the global capital markets every year. Proceeds from all its bond support development programs that are aligned with its mission to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity and the Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to water and ocean resources, this also includes education, health, nutrition, and access to essential infrastructure.
About the World Bank
The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD), rated Aaa/AAA (Moody’s/S&P), is an international organization created in 1944 and the original member of the World Bank Group. It operates as a global development cooperative owned by 189 nations. It provides its members with financing, expertise and coordination services so they can achieve equitable and sustainable economic growth in their national economies and find effective solutions to pressing regional and global economic and environmental problems. The World Bank has two main goals: to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. It seeks to achieve them primarily by providing loans, risk management products, and expertise on development-related disciplines to its borrowing member government clients in middle-income countries and other creditworthy countries, and by coordinating responses to regional and global challenges. It has been issuing sustainable development bonds in the international capital markets for over 70 years to fund its activities that achieve a positive impact. Information on World Bank bonds for investors is available on the World Bank Treasury website: www.worldbank.org/debtsecurities.
