MNI INTERVIEW: Italy To Sell First Green Bonds Early Next Year

By Silvia Marchetti

     ROME(MNI) - Italy's government is likely to sell its first green sovereign

bonds early next year, and will soon announce details of a plan to use the debt

to finance environmentally-friendly projects following similar issuance by

France and Poland, Economy Undersecretary of State Pier Paolo Baretta told MNI.

     Green bonds will be a pillar of the upcoming 2020 budget law set to be

finalised by the government by mid-October and then approved by parliament in

December, Baretta said in an interview. The green issuance, which would be

structured similarly to existing BTP bonds, would run parallel to two green

funds worth E50 billion the government has pledged to set up to support

environmentally-friendly investments over 15 years.

     "The plan has a two-fold objective: diversify the toolbox of Italy's

already existing state securities and lure new investors to support the green

economy and tap its enormous potential,", said Baretta, noting that the

government will also take other fiscal measures to boost the sustainable economy

in a "Green Deal."

     "This government is working hard to cut taxes and introduce fiscal benefits

for all sorts of green investments in the real economy, from technology, clean

energy, to infrastructure upgrading and business innovation that have a big

environmental and social impact."

     Poland was the first European country to issue sovereign green bonds in

2016, raising E750 million. The next year, France raised E7 billion from a sale

of green bonds which was more than three times oversubscribed.

     "We're analysing what other European countries have already done in the

same field, particularly the French government but we're also taking into

consideration other case studies across Europe", said Baretta.

     Both Poland and France adopted the International Capital Market

Association's Green Bond Principles, with tight requirements for the kind of

projects which qualify as having a key environmental impact.

--MNI London Bureau; +44 203 865 3829; email: jason.webb@marketnews.com

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