Author: European Environment Agency; Yann Francoise; Marie Gantois
Category: Municipal Bond
Published/Created by: Paris/Climate-ADAPT
When, in 2015, the City of Paris hosted the COP21, the City Hall wanted to send out a strong signal to the international community and to other local and regional authorities and show the diversity of municipal ecological actions and commitments. To emphasize this, the City of Paris erected the climate bond to finance climate and energy projects. The total size of the bond is € 300 million, with a running time until May 2031. The bond aims at private investors who consider it as a secondary advantage to invest in the sustainability of the city of Paris.
The purpose of the Adaptation Strategy, one of the operational documents of the Paris Climate & Energy Action Plan, is to prepare the city for both future climate changes as well as for future scarcity of certain resources such as water, energy, food and biodiversity. This is translated into four main objectives:
- protect Parisians from extreme climate events;
- ensure the supply of water, food and energy;
- live with climate change: more sustainable city planning;
- foster new lifestyles and boost solidarity.
The objective of both adaptation projects under implementation within the climate bond is to reduce the urban heat island effect and increase thermal comfort within the city. Two adaptation projects are currently included in the climate bond and respectively involve planting 20,000 trees and creating 30 hectares of new parks. The time limit for finalizing the adaptation projects was 2020.