Email Reveals: “Green” Bonds Have Great PR Value, but are Too Expensive to Fund Green Project

September 3, 2019

For the first time, it appears the new administration in Santa Fe has to deal with the fact that “green” costs more.

The State of New Mexico was proud to brag about their brand new project to pay $12 million to retrofit state buildings with “energy upgrades.”  Their talking point was simple: Green Bonds are going to be used to pay for a green project.

Except they won’t.

Emails obtained by Power The Future show those promised green bonds are too “disadvantageous” for the project.

After crunching the numbers, state finance officials found the green component of the project was “too small” and that utilizing green bonds would cost more. Although, they did lament losing the biggest advantage to using green bonds: good public relations.

It’s sadly hypocritical for the administration to say they will use green bonds and then find out it’s really only for the PR benefit.

However, it all begs the question: If going green is less affordable for state government, why do they believe it will be more affordable for New Mexico’s families?