H.B. Fuller Launches Kofinity Insulating Glass Platform

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking announced on the 25th that it will expand lending for corporate spending on disaster prevention and climate change measures. As natural disasters caused by climate change, such as heavy rain and floods, increase, the bank aims to support investment in flood-proofing buildings, installing emergency power sources, river improvement, cooling equipment, and developing crops suited to climate change. The bank became the first Japanese financial institution to obtain an opinion from the UK-based nonprofit Climate Bonds Initiative, which promotes such investment, stating that its sustainable finance framework conforms to international standards. This makes it easier for companies to show investors that they are working on disaster prevention and climate change measures if they receive loans through the bank's framework. It also signed a memorandum with the Climate Bonds Initiative together with SMBC Nikko Securities to share knowledge on climate-related standards and evaluation methods and expand the supply of funds to the disaster prevention field. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group aims to handle 50 trillion yen in sustainable finance by fiscal 2029.

The Cabinet meeting approved a draft memorandum of agreement for a project to promote energy-saving and environmentally friendly housing in Thailand, with support from the Global Environment Facility, or GEF. It also authorised the National Housing Authority to sign the agreement together with the United Nations Environment Programme, or UNEP, and the Thailand Environment Institute, or TEI. The project has a total value of 32.08 million US dollars, or about 1.05 billion baht, of which 3.14 million US dollars, or about 102.86 million baht, is a grant from the GEF through UNEP. The remainder comes from investment funds and matching contributions from the National Housing Authority and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, or EGAT. The project has a five-year implementation framework running from 2026 to 2029, with an extension possible under the agreement. Its goal is to raise the quality of life for low- to middle-income people by giving them access to energy-saving housing, and to help drive greenhouse gas reduction targets under the Paris Agreement. The project has three main activities: developing energy-saving home standards for detached and semi-detached houses along with expanding the No. 5 energy-saving label; bringing in financial institutions to set up low-interest loans so low- to middle-income people can borrow to buy or build energy-saving homes; and developing personnel through training in green building design techniques along with public awareness campaigns. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of State agree that this is an agreement between a government agency and an international organisation, does not qualify as a treaty under Section 178 of the Constitution, creates no additional budget burden for the government, and has already passed legal review by the Attorney General.

New York City's C-PACE administrator has adopted new guidelines that replace a cost-based lending formula with loan-to-value underwriting, potentially increasing loan sizes by roughly 40% for qualifying projects. The new framework caps borrowing at 35% of a property's stabilized value, adds embodied carbon as an eligible measure, and lets lenders disburse funds in tranches rather than a single lump sum at closing. Mike Doty, Nuveen Green Capital's senior director of originations for the Northeast, said the new test is easier to underwrite and could push loan sizes roughly 40% higher. The embodied-carbon change could benefit adaptive reuse projects, including office-to-residential conversions, which preserve more of a building's existing structure than ground-up construction. State legislation now awaiting the governor's signature would codify the loan-to-value and tranche-funding changes into law, giving lenders and sponsors more certainty than guidance alone. Nuveen Green Capital has closed more than $7 billion across over 750 C-PACE deals nationwide, and its C-PACE fund recently topped $1 billion.