Fiji’s push for a climate-friendly environ­ment took another step forward when Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama yesterday opened the London Stock Exchange trading by launching the Fijian Green Bond.

As the President of COP23, the global climate negotiations, Prime Minister Bainimarama said it was his role is to help the governments of the world implement what they committed to in the Paris Agreement of 2015.

“We need money for that. And this is one way of opening up the flow of capital to where it is needed most,” he said while opening the day’s trading in London.

“This is an important day for Fiji as we cel­ebrate the listing of our Sovereign Green Bond on this great Exchange – arguably the premier capital market in the world. And it has been a great thrill for me to be here in person to open the day’s trading,” Mr Bainimarama said.

He said Fiji – a small island state in the Pacific – had brought a novel financial instrument to this famous floor.

“It’s an instrument designed to help our na­tion cope with the reality of climate change – to finance the various projects we need to build a more climate-resilient economy. And we have shown the world that an emerging market bond with these characteristics can be launched suc­cessfully,” Mr Bainimarama said.

The Bond was issued in tranches and so far has been oversubscribed, indicating confidence in the standards applied to the Bond and the stability of the Fijian economy as well as tre­mendous support for Fiji’s efforts to deal with climate change.

Mr Bainimarama said he was very proud that Fiji’s Green Bond Framework had been inde­pendently verified to have clear environmental benefits and to be credible, transparent and consistent with the highest global standards.

He expressed hope that the Bond would be an example that other sovereign governments and private investors would follow.

“Because we need trillions of dollars to flow into investments that produce financial returns and both mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts,” Mr Bainimarama said.