Citi's Inaugural Green Bond Issuance
As a founding member of the Green Bonds Principles and leading arranger and underwriter in the green bonds market, Citi has been at the forefront of helping our clients finance sustainability initiatives with innovative green and sustainability bond structures. Our role supporting and evolving this burgeoning market is just one reflection of our ongoing efforts to incorporate sustainability into our business. It's become a key component of our engagement with clients and investors.
On January 22, we were excited to announce the issuance of Citi's inaugural green bond, for €1 billion 3-year fixed rate notes. Our first green bond will finance renewable energy, sustainable transportation, water quality and conservation, energy efficiency and green building projects financed as part of our $100 Billion Environmental Finance Goal. This issuance builds on our previous commitment to finance and facilitate $100 billion within 10 years to support environmental solutions and accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon economy. We are on track to achieve that $100 Billion Environmental Finance Goal – as of 2017, we had financed or facilitated $57 billion towards environmental finance activities, and our progress in 2018 will be reported in our upcoming annual report and global citizenship report. We also recently announced a new commitment to source renewable power for 100% of our company's global energy needs by 2020. Both initiatives are part of Citi's Sustainable Progress Strategy, which sets out our guiding principles, priorities and ambitions in environmental finance and environmental and social risk management, including our own operations and supply chain. It also forms part of our contribution to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The second-party opinion provider, Sustainalytics, has reviewed our Green Bond Framework and has confirmed in a Second Party Opinion that it is aligned with Citi's broader sustainability objectives as well as with the Green Bond Principles. Sustainalytics' assessment confirms that the proceeds from our green bond will have clear positive environmental impacts and contribute to advancing the UN SDGs.
The issuance of our first green bond was truly a collaborative effort, as teams from Treasury, Capital Markets, Legal to Environmental and Social Risk Management, Sustainability and ICG and Corporate Communications worked together to take this important step on our journey. As we move forward, these teams will collectively engage with businesses across the company to identity even more projects that could meet our green bond criteria.
There is still much to do to increase investment in sustainable finance in support of the Sustainable Development Goals and we will continue to work with our clients to bring such solutions to market.