| Summary: | I have to admit, as someone who didn’t hold out much hope for huge, progressive climate policy under President Joe Biden, I’m impressed. Who knew a 78-year-old career politician and lifelong moderate would wave his magic wand and turn boring old infrastructure into a long-overdue national plan to tackle the climate crisis? Actually, the wide-ranging $2.25 trillion proposal to overhaul the country’s infrastructure is far from boring for many reasons, but I’d like to home in on the decarbonization piece and its potential to juice the green finance markets. Let’s start with that total: $2.25 trillion sounds like a lot of money, because it is. But even this gargantuan sum won’t pay for all of the work necessary to fix and modernize our neglected roads, bridges, ports, public transit, airports, water systems, electric grids, schools, waste systems, etc. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which recently released its 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, reckons we need closer to $6 trillion just to catch up on repairs. Of course, not every infrastructure upgrade qualifies as climate-related, but a whole lot of them would. So, not only would cities, states and companies working to reach their own net-zero emissions goals have, for the first time, the federal government’s will and dollars to incentivize their efforts, they also would need to raise additional funding to pay for them. States and localities in need of funds for climate-related projects - such as public transportation, circular waste systems, greening buildings and schools, renewable energy and electric vehicle infrastructure - likely would turn to the municipal debt market. Last year, issuers priced a record of roughly $20 billion in muni green bonds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. And the pace for 2021 - roughly $3.5 billion of issuance through April - suggests this year will beat that. Lauren Kashmanian, a senior portfolio manager who... |