To Avoid Default, Sri Lanka Might Need to Get Tougher on Climate Change
Nordea’s asset management unit is the latest fund manager planning to push a green agenda during sovereign debt talks
Wind turbines on the coast in Putalam, Sri Lanka.
Photographer: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images
Sri Lanka is hurtling toward a default of its international debt and needs to restructure. Its government may be surprised to find that a group of its creditors have more than money on their mind.
One of its lenders, Nordea Bank Abp’s asset management unit, wants to tie any agreement to climate goals, according to a letter from the asset manager to Sri Lankan authorities last month that was seen by Bloomberg. In the letter, the Helsinki-based manager outlined targets set under the Paris agreement including increasing forest cover, reducing greenhouse gases, achieving 70% renewable energy in electricity generation by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050.