Moody’s announced today that it has retired its Green Bond Assessment (GBA) product in light of the market-leading Second-Party Opinion (SPO) Service for sustainable bonds provided by its affiliate Vigeo Eiris (VE). This move follows the recently announced formation of the Moody’s ESG Solutions Group and last year’s expansion of Moody’s ESG capabilities with investments in VE, a global pioneer in ESG assessments, data, tools and sustainable finance; and Four Twenty Seven, a leader in climate risk analysis.

VE offers a range of leading sustainable finance solutions, including a recently-enhanced SPO service for green, social, sustainability, and transition bonds as well as issuer sustainability ratings that provide an in-depth and forward-looking evaluation on a company’s sustainability credentials. In view of VE’s market-leading SPO product, Moody’s Investors Service (MIS) has retired the GBA product and has withdrawn all outstanding GBAs today.

“The sustainable bond market has been on a remarkable growth trajectory and is expected to play a central role in financing the recovery from COVID-19, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and accelerating action on the energy transition,” said Andrea Blackman, Moody’s Global Head of ESG Solutions. “VE’s leading Second-Party Opinion service supports the integrity of this growing market by providing independent, transparent, and standards-based expert analysis of sustainability credentials.”

VE has supported over 260 SPO operations, including award-winning missions, and recently launched an enhanced service featuring an updated impact assessment and a more intuitive format. VE’s enhanced SPO helps issuers communicate effectively on a bond’s sustainability credentials as they seek to secure financing from a diversified and extended investor base.

VE’s enhanced SPO provides:

• A market-leading comprehensive and systematic overview of the sustainability credentials of a bond and the ESG performance of the issuer.
• For Green Bond Finance operations, the VE SPO provides information on the alignment of the bond with the key requirements of the European Union’s Green Bond Standard.
• Information on the alignment of the bond with the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) principles.

ABOUT MOODY’S ESG SOLUTIONS

Moody’s ESG Solutions Group is a business unit of Moody’s Corporation serving the growing global demand for ESG and climate insights. The group leverages Moody’s data and expertise across ESG, climate risk, and sustainable finance, and aligns with Moody's Investors Service (MIS) and Moody's Analytics (MA) to deliver a comprehensive, integrated suite of ESG and climate risk solutions including ESG scores, analytics, Sustainability Ratings and Sustainable Finance Reviewer/certifier services.

For more information visit Moody’s ESG & Climate Risk hub at www.moodys.com/esg

For more information about VE’s second-party opinion service please visit: www.vigeo-eiris.com

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