The government will issue a third Canadian-dollar-denominated green bond this week, subject to market conditions, the Department of Finance announced on Tuesday.
The issuance follows Canada’s second green bond — a 10-year, $4 billion bond — which was issued in February 2024 and re-opened in October 2024 for an additional $2 billion. The country’s first green bond was a 7.5-year, $5-billion issuance in March 2022.
This week’s issuance will be the second of two transactions in fiscal year 2024–25 — the October re-opening and this separate offering — to meet the planned green bond issuance target of $4 billion outlined in the 2024 federal budget, a release said.
The government launched its green bond program in 2022 in an effort to grow the sustainable finance market. Canada’s green bond framework was updated in November 2023 to make certain nuclear expenditures eligible.
Canada is the first sovereign borrower to include such nuclear expenditures in a green bond, demonstrating its “commitment to being a global leader in clean nuclear power,” Finance said in the release.
Other sovereign green bond issuers include France, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Italy and the U.K.
Earlier this year, Moody’s Ratings forecast global sustainable bond issuance to be flat year over year at about US$1 trillion in 2025.
That total included US$620 billion in green bond issuance, US$175 billion in new sustainability bonds (which combine green and social goals), US$150 billion in social bonds, US$35 billion in sustainability-linked bonds and US$20 billion in transition bonds.
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