Transition Debt Is Next Leg of Canadian ESG Markets Rollout
- Issuers working on transition bond frameworks, BMO says
- Investors increase oversight of firms’ emission commitments
An oil pumpjack behind a bank of solar panels near Longview, Alberta.s plan to meet its 2030 emissions-reduction goal.
Photographer: James MacDonald/BloombergDebt to finance companies’ plans to reduce pollution is likely the next phase in the environmental, social and governance-labeled debt markets in Canada, one of the world’s largest oil and natural gas producers.
Several companies are laying the groundwork to issue transition bonds by building frameworks, which typically detail criteria and investor disclosures needed to sell the debt, said Jonathan Hackett, head of sustainable finance and co-head of the Energy Transition Group at Bank of Montreal’s capital markets unit. The lender and Royal Bank of Canada advised Export Development Canada on a framework that enables the agency to eventually sell that type of debt, opening a path for other institutional borrowers considering it.