SBI To Raise $500 Million Through Green Bonds To Fund Eco-Friendly Projects

India’s biggest bank State Bank of India (SBI) will raise $500 million from green bonds in the international market, Economic Times has reported. The bonds will be issued at SBI’s London branch, and they will have a tenure of five years. Green bonds are meant to fund projects that have a positive environmental or climate benefits.

With this issue, SBI will fulfil compliance requirements of the Climate Bonds Initiative, a global not-for-profit investor-focused organisation.

Bank of America-Meryll Lynch predicts that green bonds will have a market of $125 billion by the year 2025. It has also predicted that $32 billion-worth green bonds will be sold in the next five years.

Over the past two years, Indian banks have raised $6 billion in the form of green bond sales. In 2015, Yes Bank became the first domestic bank to raise money from green bonds. Funds coming into India through green bonds will enable the country to meet the ambitious 175-gigawatt renewable energy target that has been set for 2022.