The Green Finance Institute (GFI) has unveiled a new tookit aiming to help local authorities unlock what could be worth a potential £3bn in green investment opportunities, helping them to deliver on their net zero ambitions.
It seeks to provide local authorities with a sufficient amount of information on Local Climate Bonds (LCBs), outlining the optimal process for issuing them, while also tackling common misconceptions towards them. It explained how they deliver a “win-win-win” for councils, communities and the planet, including by helping councils to engage residents and businesses to raise funds to deliver sustainable local projects, while accessing cost-effective finance; having local residents able to benefit from local green projects and receive a fixed return on their investment; and of course through supporting the transition to a carbon neutral future.
Further benefits include how LCBs are able to inherently deepen the relationship between councils and their communities, with an opportunity to gain long-term access to low-cost funding through building a community of local investors when issuing successive Local Climate Bonds, and how LCBs are able to fund investment into projects which can support some of the most vulnerable in society.
LCBs are open for anybody to invest in through a crowdfunding platform hosted by Abundance Investment. People are able to put in as little as £5 and considering access to attractive and diverse sources of funding has proved a real barrier for local authorities taking climate action, they are a real avenue for a successful transition. Since 2020, eight councils have been able to raise £6.4mn to fund local net zero projects in their communities by taking action this why, ranging from solar panels on schools to rewilding and nature restoration.
Westminster Council, for example, was able to raise £1mn from 484 investors in just nine days in March of this year. Lewisham, meanwhile, was the eight council to issue an LCB when launching the Lewisham Climate Action Investment in May.
