Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has delivered $31 billion towards its Sustainability Funding Target (SFT) since June 2020, making strong progress towards its SFT of $70 billion in cumulative funding by 2030.
Over the past two years, CBA has created a dedicated sustainable finance and ESG team in the institutional banking and markets division, which resulted in a ramp up of activities across sustainable finance, with the team executing more 70 transactions during fiscal 2022 – a near three-fold increase from the previous year.
This financial year, the group acted as joint lead manager on more ESG bond transactions in the Australian dollar market than any other bank, arranging $9.4 billion of Australian dollar ESG bonds across 17 issues, and $13.6 billion of ESG bonds globally. The bank was also joint lead manager on Queensland Treasury Corporation’s $3 billion green bond – the largest transaction of this kind in the Australian market.
CBA also backed a number of innovative transactions in its role as joint lead manager on University of Tasmania’s $350 million green bond – the largest green issued by an Australian university and the first to solely fund assets targeting a reduction in embodied carbon. Other initiatives supported by the bank have included developing a range of successful sustainable finance products for institutional clients such as an ESG term deposit and green repurchase agreements.
CBA has also blazed a trail in the Australian loan market with several sustainable deals,
including the launch of the country’s first Green Development Loan to incentivise the construction of new green buildings.
The bank partnered with Charter Hall to achieve Climate Bond Initiative certification of its $202 million construction facility for a new development in Richmond, Victoria. It has also provided sustainability-linked inventory financing to support Australian grain company Viterra with a syndicated $800 million facility that will help with expanding a sustainably grown grain supply chain across the country.
“CBA’s strategy, in addition to considering the risks of climate change, seeks to harness the significant existing and emerging opportunities to help customers reduce their emissions, adapt to climate change, and drive positive social outcomes,” the bank said in a media release. “Playing a leading role in Australia’s recovery and transition is key to delivering on Commonwealth Bank’s purpose and helping to build a brighter future for all.”
