Région Île-de-France: Best Green Bond Thought Leadership Team Global 2023

The Île-de-France region, which surrounds the nation’s famed Parisian capital, serves public needs with a €5bn budget and a workforce of more than 10,000 professionals. The region is committed to completely covering its financing needs via green and sustainable bonds. Since 2012, it has issued 11 green and sustainable bonds totalling €5.2bn. Now, 85 percent of the region’s debt derives from green funding, which should account for all its debt by the 2027/28 fiscal year. Île-de-France updated its green and sustainable investment framework in 2021. Last year, it launched a €133m resilience fund to erase debt for more than 7,000 regional MSMEs struggling to recover from the pandemic. Île-de-France bonds are regarded as best-in-class investments. Last year’s call for a €700m bond resulted in a €1.4bn order book, attracting support from 62 investors in 14 countries. Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France represented over 71 percent of the orderbook. Île-de-France issued a €600m sustainability bond in January 2023 that was nearly fourfold oversubscribed at €2.3bn (attracting 94 investors from 15 countries). Île-de-France was ranked by the extra-financial rating agency Vigeo-Eiris among the top three European regional authorities for its sustainability performance. The region will publish a new green budget to highlight the environmental and social priorities of 2024. Target areas include climate action, clean transport, renewable energies, ecological transition, circular economies, territorial cohesion, sport, disability and autonomy. The CFI.co judging panel announces the Région Île-de-France as the 2023 global award winner for Best Green Bond Thought Leadership Team.