https://arab.news/5dau8
ABU DHABI: UAE renewable energy company Masdar will publish its first green finance framework within weeks, enabling it to issue its first green bonds, its chief executive said on Thursday.
"Masdar will be ready to issue its first-ever green bond in 2023, and we intend to move forward subject to market conditions," CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said, speaking at the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Forum.
Last month, TAQA, Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. said they would become shareholders in Masdar, with stakes of 43 percent, 33 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
Fitch and Moody's reaffirmed their A+ and A2 credit ratings assigned in 2021 following the change to the company's shareholding structure, Al Ramahi said.
Issuers in the hydrocarbon-rich Gulf have increasingly looked to burnish their environmental credentials by issuing green bonds or other sustainability-linked debt.
Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund raised $3 billion in green bonds in October in its maiden debt issue.
The UAE will host this year's COP28 climate summit and last week named the head of oil giant ADNOC, Sultan al-Jaber, to lead it. He also chairs Masdar and was its founding CEO.