Water, Sewage & Effluent November-December 2017 | Page 10

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”.