BofA Doubles Green Bond Goals, Adds People to Build ESG in Asia

Bank of America Corp. plans to double its presence in China’s green bond market over the next couple of years, its head in the country said.

The bank plans to issue about $50 billion of green and sustainability-linked bonds and other financial products with carbon neutral goals to Chinese clients by the middle of the next decade, according to China country executive Wang Wei. It aims to grow the annual revenue of its China business over the next couple of years, people familiar with the matter said.

To achieve this goal, the bank is doubling the size of its environmental and social investing team in Asia. China is expected to pay more attention to the environment in the next decades, and it is under immense pressure to develop a proper framework for ESG.

Bank of America is one of the first US banks to set goals for green financing in China. Although it is the biggest green bond market in the world, it is only a fraction of the bank's overall plans. In China, the bank is looking to invest in companies that are developing new technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture, which could help accelerate the country's efforts to phase out fossil fuels.

The bank's role in addressing climate change is becoming more significant as it becomes more critical to the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions