ESG Disclosure Guidance for Municipal Bond Issuers
The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), which includes finance officers of over 20,000 municipalities across the US and Canada, issued its first guidance encouraging climate risk disclosure by municipal bond issuers-
The best practice guidance tries to address a disclosure gap, which obscures the municipal debt repayment risks stemming from sea level rise, wildfires, and other climate risks.
Governments play an important role in that overall assessment by providing specifics about their ESG challenges and action plans and in doing so, increasing transparency to the entire municipal market. ESG disclosure provides governments the opportunity to tell their story of what they are facing and how they are addressing the issues, a point of view that is valuable to the broader municipal market.