The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) released new
guidelines (the Guidelines) on the issuance of green bonds on March
2, 2017, marking an important step in the development of what is
now the world's largest green bond market, accounting for 39%
of global issuances by principal amount issued during 2016 (after
excluding green bonds that the Climate Bond Initiative considered
did not qualify as green bonds). Key policies in the Guidelines
include CSRC adopting the categories of projects eligible for
funding with green bonds that were promulgated by the People's
Bank of China (PBoC) (which we have
previously covered), a requirement to deliver a
"commitment letter" to CSRC relating to the green
attributes of the issuance, and a prohibition in principle on
issuances of green bonds by non-green issuers (e.g., oil
companies). Because this last prohibition is qualified by
"in principle" in the text of the guidelines, the CSRC
may grant exceptions in certain
