1. RBI Accepts Bids for ₹5,000-Crore Green Sovereign Bonds

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) accepted bids for ₹1,502.01 crore at 6.79%, which clearly shows weak demand for green sovereign bonds.
• The remaining portion of the bonds devolved on primary dealers, indicates a lack of interest in eco-friendly projects.
• Despite recent amendments to allow NRIs and foreign portfolio investors to invest in green bonds, there are few interested ones.
• State Bank of India’s green rupee term deposit scheme, with lower interest rates, is not attracting much attention.

Green Bonds and Standard Bonds

• Green bonds, introduced in 2007, are debt instruments which aims to finance projects positively impacting the climate and environment.
• The issuers can be countries, companies, and multilateral organizations as well.
• Examples of green projects include renewable energy, clean transportation, and green buildings.
• Issuers must provide information about the project and its expected climate and environmental impacts.
• Sovereign green bonds can benefit the Indian economy by promoting environment-friendly public sector projects and achieving government targets like 175 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity by 2022 and net zero carbon emissions by 2070.