Emergency plans to boost water supplies during the current drought include accessing the Table Mountain aquifer.
City of Cape Town green bond
The City of Cape Town addresses drought and climate
change with South Africa’s first CBI-accredited green bond.
By Angela Mokone
I
n the face of global climate change
and the worst drought in living
memory, the City of Cape Town issued
South Africa’s first true green bond last
month. The proceeds of the hugely
successful issuance will be used to
fund and re-finance green projects in
the city, including its emergency water
supply schemes designed to address
a severe drought which has resulted
8
in the city’s dams reaching worryingly
low levels.
The city was able to raise its
targeted R1-billion from eight
allocated bidders, having received
bids of almost R5-billion from 31
different bidders. The bond has a
10-year term and was issued at a
spread of 133 basis points over the
R186 government bond.
Water Sewage & Effluent November/December 2017
The City of Cape Town’s green bond is
the only green bond in the country to
be accredited by the Climate Bonds
Initiative (CBI), a global organisation
that promotes investment into
climate change solutions and
provides green bond certification,
and certified by ratings agency
Moody’s as GB1 which it terms
as “excellent”.