March 30, 2007—The US Green Building Council (USGBC) recently announced plans to purchase one of the first federally sanctioned Green Bonds being sold on Wall Street.
The bonds, insured by XL Capital, and rated AAA, are the first of $2 billion allocated by the US Treasury to four large projects around the country. This first issue totaled $238 million, and was at the end of February by the Syracuse Industrial Development Authority for the Destiny USA project in upstate New York.
Citi and Lehman Brothers are co-underwriting the ground-breaking bond issue to finance The Destiny USA project, which is designed to be the world’s largest green building and the first phase of a retail, hospitality, and entertainment destination—a “retail city”—powered entirely by renewable energy. When complete, the Destiny USA project will total $20 billion.
The pilot Green Bond program provides tax-exempt financing capacity for revolutionary energy conserving and environmentally beneficial development projects. Projects from around the country competed for the designation. Those selected, including Destiny USA, have committed to using all savings from this special class of bonds to integrate renewable energy and green construction techniques on a very large and visible scale, unlike anything that has ever been done before, says USGBC.
For more information, see the USGBC Web site.
