Just Group launches unique £250m eco-friendly insurance bond

Specialist financial services company Just Group has released details of its £250m Green Bond, a one-of-a-kind venture in the UK insurance sector.

Based in Surrey, the company was founded in 2004 and chooses to focus on “attractive segments” within UK retirement products and services. 

The Green Bond itself is viewed as a method by which further investment in other green assets, such as buildings, renewable energy and clean transport, can be facilitated.

Part of a growing movement within the insurance industry, whereby companies seek to address wider Environmental, Social and corporate Governance (ESG) issues (see also: Vitality), Just Group specifically declared that insurance has a crucial role to play in advancing sustainability causes.

Disrupting with a social purpose

Already experienced in generating green investment for wide-reaching CSR activities, including £360m for offshore and wind developments and £250m for social housing, Just Group also introduced a Green Lifetime Mortgage earlier in 2020.

David Richardson, Group CEO, stated that this unique milestone in the nation’s insurance sector was just the latest in an ongoing series of market disruptions it was introducing with “a strong social purpose.”

He reflected that both the Green Bond and Lifetime Mortgage represented “[Just Group’s] unique to adapting products and services to support our customers who are looking for ways to make positive changes to their environmental footprint.”

ESGs globally

Although Just Group is pioneering ESGs in the UK insurance market, their popularity around the world is continuing to grow at a rapid rate.

In its 2019 article ‘Five ways that ESG creates value’, McKinsey & Co found that “global sustainable investment now tops US$30trn” - a “meteoric rise” of 68% from 2014’s figure.

There is also no reason to think that this trend will not continue post-COVID-19: JP Morgan recently found in its survey of investors from 50 global institutions that the majority (55%) held at least a ‘rather positive’ view of ESG investment’s prospects over the next three years.

While the unprecedented effect of the pandemic leaves the answer ultimately uncertain, Just Group’s Green Bond could prove to be both an environmentally and financially sustainable development.