Green Bonds (Bonos Verdes): una explicación gráfica

Los Green Bonds por su término en inglés o "Bonos Verdes" o "Bonos Climáticos" en español, son títulos de deuda que se emiten para generar capital específicamente para respaldar proyectos ambientales o relacionados con el cambio climático. Por tanto, el atractivo de los bonos verdes es el compromiso que tienen estos instrumentos de deuda con el medioambiente, lo cual supone una mejora de la reputación y un acceso a una mayor diversidad de inversores.

La emisión de los Bonos Verdes se inició en el año 2007 (previo a la crisis financiera internacional 2008/2009). Dicho evento se puede apreciar en el siguiente gráfico, que muestra la evolución del mercado de emisión de Bonos Verdes desde sus inicios hasta la actualidad. A partir del 2013, se aprecia un aumento importante por año: en el 2016 se dobló su tamaño con respecto al año anterior y este 2017 se espera que se vuelva a duplicar el tamaño con respecto al 2016. El volumen total de bonos verdes se estimó en 160 mil millones de dólares en 2016; de los cuales 70 mil millones fueron emitidos en 2016.

Fuente: Green Really Is Gold for These Bond Lovers

En la siguiente Tabla se muestra la Taxonomía de los Bonos Verdes:

Fuente: OCDE (2015).

La siguiente Tabla, muestra los Tipos de Bonos Verdes:

Fuente: Explaining green bonds

La Tabla que se presenta a continuación, muestra las diferentes Características de Identificación de los Bonos Verdes y sus Esquemas de Certificación:

Fuente: Ehlers y Packer (2017).

La siguiente Tabla, muestra la Comparación de los principales Bonos Verdes y la Certificación por Agencias de Crédito:

Fuente: Ehlers y Packer (2017).

La siguiente Tabla muestra los Retornos de julio 2014 a junio 2017:

Fuente: Ehlers y Packer (2017).

Sin embargo, aunque este tipo de instrumentos de deuda pueden resultar muy atractivos tanto para los emisores como para los inversionistas, no están exentos de ventajas y desventajas, así como riesgos. En la siguiente Tabla se muestran las Ventajas y Desventajas según un documento de la OCDE (2015):

Según las Naciones Unidas, señalan los siguientes Pros y Cons y Riesgos de los Bonos Verdes:

I. Pros:

1. Investors benefit from funding green projects, helping them to deliver on the commitments made as signatories to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), as members of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) and/or other similar bodies.
2. Green bonds can foster greater transparency in the use of proceeds from a bond and help to ensure that the climate impact of fixed income investments is reported. 
3. Green bonds can play a positive role in raising awareness and building expertise among investors on green and climate issues.
4. As the financial risk and return characteristics of green bonds are the same as for classic bonds, the main benefits are lower interest rates⎯for example from the one a company could obtain from a bank⎯the possibility of raising larger amounts of capital and greater flexibility in the use of capital.
5. Local governments and companies can profit from the increase in demand from socially responsible investors, which have proved to have a strong appetite for green bonds by oversubscribing issuances (though this might be explained by other factors, including the coupon).
6. Green bonds can raise large amounts of financial resources to support environmental projects for which funding might otherwise not be available, or which might be uneconomic if they had to rely on more expensive capital. 
7. The market is growing but it is still young. Companies and government entities can enhance their reputation by branding themselves as innovative and sustainable.
8. Green bonds can facilitate the establishment of public-private partnerships that might accelerate the pace of green investment and lead to the adoption of new technologies.

II. Cons:

1. The lack of consensus regarding what constitutes a green bond is a source of uncertainty when assessing long-term investment options.
2. Transparency and reporting are weak in the green bond market, which still relies on voluntary reporting. As the market grows, transparency will emerge as an increasingly important issue.
3. Retail investment is still limited because green bonds are not yet well integrated into mainstream funds, indices and other products. The cost of issuing green bonds might be lower in the future.

III. Risks:

1. The main risk of debt is the default of the issuer. Default risks are issuer/bond specific and relate to the capacity to generate sufficient cash flow to repay capital and interest over time. A default in regulated markets might have large and long-standing negative impacts on a company’s credit rating.
2. The structuring of a bond implies additional risks to be factored in both for the issuer and the investor, as with bonds with variable interest rates or linked to an index (e.g. Libor). Secondary instruments (e.g. currency forwards and futures) exist to help hedge these risks, but at a cost.
3. Variability in transaction costs and issuance fees, particularly for low value issues in developing countries might make other financial mechanisms more affordable.
4. Variability in the taxation of debt market instruments can influence investors’ decisions. Tax incentives can motivate investors to buy green bonds while higher rates of taxation on debt instruments might reduce the attractiveness of bonds. 
5. Evaluating the environmental benefits claimed by issuers of green bonds has been a key issue since the market started to grow. The reputational risk for green bonds issuers, i.e. when bonds labelled as green issued by others are found not to be "green", remain high and can have an impact on investors’ trust.
6. If the green bond is issued abroad, additional risks, including changes in foreign market regulations on capital flows, and exchange rates, should be accounted for. Plus, in the long term, offshore markets may draw liquidity away from the domestic market. However, these additional risks are often lower than the ones incurred in issuing bonds in underdeveloped markets.

Finalmente, si quieren saber más sobre los Bonos Verdes y no se les da muy bien el inglés, pueden leer: Los bancos centrales dan un espaldarazo a los bonos verdes. Para los que si leen en inglés, dicho artículo en español se basa en el siguiente:

Ehlers, T. y Packer, F. (2017). Green bond finance and certification. BIS Quarterly Review, September 2017: 89-104.

En este post se hace la referencia OCDE (2015), corresponde al siguiente documento: Green bonds Mobilising the debt capital markets for a low-carbon transition.

Otro material interesante en español, es la siguiente Guía del Banco Mundial: Qué son los Bonos Verdes