Nigeria’s environment minister and UN deputy secretary general designate, Mrs. Amina Mohammed has said that stock markets in China and UK were beginning to show interest in the country’s yet-to-be established green bond.
Mohammed disclosed this to journalists at the country’s State House shortly after the weekly meeting of the executive council on Wednesday. It was reportedly her last meeting as a minister of Nigeria considering that she’s expected to resume at the UN in March.
“We already had indications from the stock exchange in the UK, China, who issue most of the green bonds in the world today over 400 billion, they will be happy to come in our direction and do so,” said Mohammed.
Overtime, the roles of stock exchanges in green bond issuances have evolved. Exchanges have increasingly become the middlemen between green bond issuers and investors. They are at the heart of the capital markets and provide the bridge for the financing of growth of green bonds domestically and internationally.
As at November 2016, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) had 39 green bonds which are denominated in seven currencies listed on its dedicated green bond segments. The LSE has also raised nearly $10 billion in this regards.
Mohammed however said the country would first deal with issuing her first domestic green bond before going international.
She noted on this: “So, look out for the green bonds, by the beginning of April we should have it.”
“It is not just a document we signed. It is taking projects out of there that will rely on resources coming from the country. To do that first we have to make sure it has integrity but by the end of the year, we can talk about issuing green bonds that are international,” she added.
On processes that would make this possible, Mohammed stated: “This is finding additional funding and focusing better on looking at low emission projects and so it is important to see the Ministry of Power involved, Agriculture, FCT coming up with the transportation programme and the environment coming up with something on deforestation.”
