The province of Ontario broke the record for a Canadian dollar green bond sale, raising $2.75 billion (US$2.19 billion) on Tuesday to fund a train line expansion among other purposes.

The government of Canada’s largest provincial economy priced the eight-year bonds to yield 58 basis points over federal securities, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s the largest loonie-denominated green bond to date, surpassing transactions sold by Ontario itself and CPPIB Capital for $1.5 billion each in 2020 and 2018.

A press officer for Ontario government didn’t provide immediate comment.

After today’s issue, sales of environmental, social and governance-labeled bonds in Canadian dollars have reached $13.4 billion for the year, the data show. That’s already an annual all-time high and compares with the previous record of $9.5 billion sold in all of 2019. Ontario’s transaction may not last long as the federal government aims to raise $5 billion through its inaugural issuance of green bonds during this fiscal year, the government said in April.

Issuers are turning to ESG financing as asset managers create and expand investment vehicles focused on those securities in response to increasing awareness about the impact of climate change and similar challenges. That in turn is allowing borrowers seeking to finance green projects - in Ontario’s case the use of proceeds include the expansion of the metropolitan train - to achieve cheaper borrowing terms than with their regular securities.