Media release
For immediate releasewww.climatebonds.net

New Climate Bonds Water Infrastructure Expert Committee meets today for the firsttime, discussing water investments that can be used for green and climate bonds
London 6th Nov 2014 - A new Climate Bonds Expert Working Group, made up of key water sector andindustry experts from around the world will be meeting for the first time today to develop criteria forwater investments that can be used to back green and climate bonds certified under the Climate Bond
Standard – an easy-to-use tool for investors and governments that allows them to assess theenvironmental integrity of bonds with confidence.
The water-focused Expert Group was brought together by the Climate Bonds Initiative, in collaboration
with Ceres, the World Resources Institute and CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project). The Group
includes representatives of organizations such as the OECD, Asia Development Bank, Imperial CollegeLondon, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), D.C. Water, Chinese Academy of Sciences andthe Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
Water-related investments account for an enormous part of the capital assets of developed countries,
and are a huge part of investments being undertaken in developing economies. Meanwhile, a new
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released this week shows that substantial
climate adaptation infrastructure will be required to ensure future clean water supplies. A clear
understanding of what sorts of investments are consistent with improving the climate resilience ofwater assets will help bond investors quickly determine the environmental credentials of water-related
green bonds and climate bonds.
Investment areas such as clean water projects, water treatment infrastructure, agricultural usage, stormand flood drainage and protection will be explored, as well as energy efficiency thresholds required toqualify for climate bond certification.
Climate Bonds CEO Sean Kidney said: "The potential for green bonds in the water sector is enormous.
While it may be tempting to define every water project as ‘green’, water investments that don’t take
into account climate change, with, for example, its increased volatility of rainfall – dumps and droughts– will come to be seen as both higher risk and not consistent with green.” He added: “Currently, climate
relevance is not clear for water projects; some of them may actually perpetuate high water
consumption or poor water management with high energy usage. This makes the need for guidelines
even more urgent – investors will want to be sure that investments don’t make matters worse.”
Sharlene Leurig, Director of the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Program at Ceres, a nonprofit
sustainability group, added: “At a time when significant investments are needed in clean water
infrastructure in the United States – anywhere from $300 billion to $1 trillion in the next 15 years - weneed to make sure these expenditures account for current-day challenges and opportunities, many ofthem related to climate change. Such 21st-century clean water infrastructure has the potential toprovide numerous co-benefits, including nutrient harvesting, urban green space provisions, habitat

protection and renewable energy generation. But all of these projects need to be undertaken in linewith the need to adapt infrastructure to address the impacts of climate change.”
Betsy Otto, Director of the World Resource Institute’s Water Program added: “Green bonds not only
create increased financial flows to meet the world’s demand for freshwater, but also ensure that thesewater infrastructure investments are more cost-effective, flexible, and environmentally sustainable in
the face of increased water demand and climate variability. We see the Climate Bond Standard, as aneasy-to-use tool that streamlines the investor decision making, as key to this process. Taking a common
approach on project eligibility will ensure that these water investments bring benefits for the climate,water resources, and affected communities.”
Cate Lamb, Head of Water at CDP said: “According to a report from the UK Water Research andInnovation Partnership, the required expenditure globally on water and sewerage to 2050 amounts to$8,606 billion. This presents a huge opportunity to tackle the global water challenge, however managing
our future water needs is, in effect, the climate adaptation challenge. CDP views the development of
the Climate Bond Standard for water infrastructure as a critical step in transitioning confidently andmeaningfully to a low-carbon, climate resilient economy.”Dr. John Matthews, Coordinator of the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), said: “Because ofrapid economic and climate change, we live in an era when sustainability has become a moving target.
No standards have yet been developed to evaluate how well we are managing water resources andecosystems in a dynamic period. We need to design new standards that allow us to design, evaluate,and effectively invest in water resources that enables long-term, flexible, and truly sustainable water
management for sustainable energy, agriculture, cities, and ecosystems.”--ENDS-The Climate Bond Standard & Certification Scheme has been developed for fixed income investments inareas that support a rapid transition to a low-carbon and climate resilient economy. Eligibility criteria
have to date been developed for wind and solar energy investments as well as energy efficiency inbuildings, with low carbon transport soon to be released. For details, visit
www.climatebonds.net/standards
About Climate Bonds Initiative: The Climate Bonds Initiative is an investor-focused not-for-profit,
promoting large-scale investment in the low-carbon economy. For details, visit
www.climatebonds.net, @ClimateBonds
About Ceres: Ceres is a nonprofit sustainability organization mobilizing business and investor leadershipon climate change, water availability challenges and other global sustainability threats. Ceres directs theInvestor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a network of 110 institutional investors with collective assets
totaling about $12 trillion. For details, visit www.ceres.org.
About CDP: CDP is an international, not-for-profit organization providing the only global system forcompanies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share vital environmental information. For
details, visit www.cdp.net.
About World Resource Institute: World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global research organization thatspans more than 50 countries, with offices in Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, and the US. It hasmore than 450 experts and staff that work closely with leaders to turn big ideas into action to sustain
our natural resources. For details, visit www.wri.org.
------For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Rozalia Walencik, Communication officer, rozalia@climatebonds.net +44 772 382 8954, +44 207 7492264)
Sean Kidney, CEO, Climate Bonds Initiative, sean@climatebonds.net, +44-75-2506-8331
EXTRAS
The Water Infrastructure Technical Working Group Lead coordinatorsSean Kindey, Justine Leigh-Bell, Climate Bonds Initiative
Sharlene Leurig, Sustainable Water Infrastructure Program, Ceres
Betsy Otto, Water Program, World Resource InstituteCate Lamb, Water Program, CDP

The Water Infrastructure Technical Working Group members:
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Dr. John Matthews, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA)
Dr. Xavier Leflaive, OECD
Torgny Holmgren, Stockholm International Water Institute
Dr. Christine Chan, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA)
Dr. Cedo Maksimovic, Urban Water Research Group, Imperial College London
Bob Zimmerman, Charles River Watershed Association
Mark Kim, DC Water, Washington DC
Dr. LeRoy Poff, Colorado State University, Stream Ecology Lab
Dr. Casey Brown, University of Massachusetts, Hydrology
Dr. Mark Smith, IUCN
Bill Stannard, AWWA
Will Sarni, Deloitte
Thomas Panella, Asia Development Bank
Dr. Guy Pegram, Pegasys, South Africa
Matt Ries, Water Environment Federation
Dr. Junguo Liu, IIASA, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dr. Manisha Singh, WiseLion LLC

The Standard is supervised by a board comprising: The California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) The Nature Resources Defense Council The Carbon Disclosure Project The Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk
 The (EU) Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change The (Australian) Investor Group on Climate Change The State Treasurer of California, Bill Lockyer