Mercy Investment Services’ portfolio includes numerous strategies to address the Critical Concerns. Stock and bond investments in the portfolio focus on specific environmental or social issues such as renewable energy, waste and water management, sustainable forestry and agriculture, health products and inclusive finance.
Green bonds, or climate bonds, encourage sustainability and exclusively finance climate-related or other types of environmental projects such as renewable energy; energy efficiency; pollution prevention and control; ecosystem protection; water efficiency and sanitation; wastewater management; and climate change adaptation. In recent years, investors’ keen interest in investing in green bonds have grown the green bond market to $1 trillion in outstanding issuance. Examples of green bonds held by Mercy Investments’ portfolio include:
- Boston Properties, the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of office properties in the United States, has issued multiple green bonds to finance energy-efficient building systems and water use reduction methods. Building operations, materials, and construction are responsible for 50% of annual global carbon dioxide emissions; improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings is urgently needed.
- Sunrun has more than half a million customers and sells its solar service in 22 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The proceeds of the securities in which Mercy invested helped finance Sunrun installations on more than 14,000 homes, bringing affordable, clean energy to homeowners and excess power generation supporting the grid.
Mercy Investment Services will continue to evaluate investment strategies that address the Critical Concerns in our portfolio.