UniSuper has become the cornerstone investor for the World Bank's first green bond issue into the Australian market, with an investment of A$100 million (US$93.5 million), a spokeswoman for the A$40 billion Melbourne-based superannuation fund said Wednesday.
UniSuper's allocation to the AAA-rated World Bank bonds — which seek to mobilize private savings to support environmentally friendly projects such as investments in renewable energy — was made through the superannuation fund's “socially responsible balanced option.”
Talieh Williams, UniSuper's manager, governance and sustainable investment, said in an e-mail that the A$700 million invested in the Socially Responsible Balanced option currently includes a A$200 million allocation to “fixed interest” securities. With the just-completed investment in the World Bank bond issue, that means half of the option's fixed-income allocation “will now be in green bonds,” she said.
