10 September 2019
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The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and French asset manager Amundi have announced a $500m Asia Climate Bond Portfolio targeting emerging market corporate debt.
The fund aims to accelerate climate action by the bank's members and address the underdevelopment of the climate bond market. It will be managed by Amundi's Global Emerging Market Debt portfolio management team, based in London. The team is part of the broader Emerging Markets Investments platform, which manages $50.5bn in dedicated EM equity, fixed income and Cross-Assets strategies, and totals some 69 investment professionals.
The approach includes a 'Climate Change Investment' framework, claimed as a a first-of-its-kind, which addresses three variables - green business activities, climate mitigation and resilience to climate change - when analysing issuers' abilities to cope with climate change.
D J Pandian, AIIB vice president and chief investment officer, said, "This portfolio is another example of how the AIIB works with leading partners to develop innovative financial products to deepen capital markets for infrastructure."
"We expect this investment will demonstrate how international financial institutions can approach development finance differently to support the Paris Agreement and adoption of climate finance principles."
Amundi CEO Yves Perrier added: "We are honoured to work with AIIB on their first capital market initiative focused on climate change. Supporting climate champions and the Paris Agreement in Asia is in line with Amundi's commitment to the region."
The Asia Climate Bond Portfolio will begin investing in January 2020 and will progressively deploy the committed capital in eligible assets. Additional information can be found here: https://www.aiib.org/en/projects/approved/2019/asia-climate-bond-portfolio.html
