LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) – Issuance of green bonds by the United Kingdom will total at least 15 billion pounds ($21 billion) this year, as the country aims to build up a liquid market for the new debt, the head of Britain’s debt management agency said on Tuesday.
Robert Stheeman, chief executive officer of the UK Debt Management Office, said Britain plans to sell its first green gilt in September.
A new green bond, a format that finances environmentally expenditures, means the UK will follow in the footsteps of other major issuers such as Germany and France.
“One thing we’ve always done in the UK, is that if do go into a new product, we stick with it and try and build something, try not to just make it a one-off,” Stheeman told an OMFIF conference on the future of sovereign debt management.
“This year alone we will do at least 15 billion pounds and this is deliberate because we want it to be a liquid market,” he said. (Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; editing by Yoruk Bahceli)
