Sustainable finance has become a huge market, with issuers all over the world having sold more than $2 trillion of green bonds. Yet the climate emergency is still getting worse. Finance is committed to aligning with the Paris Agreement, but is it on track?In this special podcast supported by the European Investment Bank to coincide with the World Bank/IMF annual meetings in Marrakech in October 2023, Nancy Saich, the EIB’s chief climate change expert, and Eila Kreivi, its chief sustainable finance advisor, discuss the finance industry’s efforts to become sustainable.They point out that no parts of the financial markets are yet fulfilling the Paris commitment. While finance is flowing to green technologies, this needs to increase massively – and just as importantly, the financing of fossil fuel expansion has to end.Between those two priorities is another – financing the whole economy as it transitions. Saich and Kreivi discuss how the financial system can create standards to define what is an ambitious transition, and what is a just one.Capital Ideas is GlobalCapital's dedicated podcast channel for thought leadership. To find out how GlobalCapital can help your organisation amplify its message, contact:Jack Thomson, publisherjack.thomson@globalcapital.com+44 20 7779 8083

North Africa is one of the most important regions for the European Investment Bank’s financing outside the EU, and one where it sees great potential for funding sustainable development.In this special podcast supported by the European Investment Bank from Marrakech, which is hosting the World Bank and IMF annual meetings, Ricardo Mourinho, the EIB vice-president responsible for Morocco and Tunisia, explores the Bank’s activities in the region.Its presence there is longstanding – in Morocco it has invested €10bn since 1979. The EIB’s involvement is also deepening, with recent investments spanning renewable energy, water, sanitation, education and health. In the immediate aftermath of the September earthquake, the EIB first worked with the Moroccan authorities to repurpose existing investments, and then pledged €1bn to the reconstruction programme.Longer term, climate change is a serious challenge for the region – the need to manage water carefully is becoming a key priority, as is sustainable transport. Mourinho emphasises that “the future is green”, so the EIB will not fund projects that are not Paris Agreement-aligned.Capital Ideas is GlobalCapital's dedicated podcast channel for thought leadership. To find out how GlobalCapital can help your organisation amplify its message, contact:Jack Thomson, publisherjack.thomson@globalcapital.com+44 20 7779 8083

◆ Why the PE industry is going to have to make the IPO market work ◆ Real estate, real refi risk ◆ Managing the SSA bond pipelineThe European IPO market is in a pitiful state. Of the few deals that do make it to book building, some are pulled while some that are priced then tank. Discounts are eye-watering and a lack of liquidity makes bringing mid-cap companies all but impossible. As one ECM banker told us this week, "something has got to give."Well, it turns out it might just be the private equity industry that does the giving. We discover why financial sponsors must start coming to the IPO market next year and what they can do to manage the risks of doing so. "The whole world is trying to work out what this new price of money actually means," said one market participant.It seems to mean little but misery for a number of real estate companies. A sector that thrives on high leverage, it is starting to face genuine refinancing risk now interest rates have soared. We sort those that have access to capital from those that have none and discuss the latter's options for staying alive.Speaking of interest rates, the ECB stood still this week with its monetary policy. We looked into what that means for the sovereign, supranational and agency bond market for the rest of the year, and more importantly, for January — traditionally the busiest month of its funding calendar.

Some corporate borrowers are finding the once verdant loan market a hostile spot to hang out lately, driving some companies to test out bonds for the first time. If a debut deal this week from Germany’s Rewe — which seems to still be able to access loans without any problem — is anything to go by, then the potential debutants planning to take the plunge should feel very confident indeed.In the world of SSAs, the market has been hit and miss in ways that bankers and issuers find hard to define. There are three major theories as to why, as explored in the podcast, but the most striking one is that the market is holding its billions of euros back for the European Union’s late summer syndicated trade. Meanwhile, somewhere famously not in the EU has run into some bother. The UK’s second largest city and England’s largest council, Birmingham, is facing a funding crisis. Beyond the acute problems for the city itself, the financial failures have put a significant dent in long held hopes that the UK local authorities might start to take more funding from the capital markets.Finally, we head to Turkey, where two of the country’s biggest banks — Vakif and Yapi Kredi — were in the market on consecutive days, to the detriment of both deals. The Turkish sovereign has another $2.5bn to raise before the end of the year, so we discuss what can be gleaned from the banks’ outing.