Germany’s federally-owned bank KfW said it has sold $1.5 billion (£0.9bn) of green bonds in the US, a record offering in America.

Green bonds are fixed income securities designed to raise capital to finance environment and climate protection projects.

The bonds, issued by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi and Morgan Stanley, have a maturity of five years and an annual interest of 1.75%.

KfW said there was a “strong demand from US investors with a focus on socially-responsible investments”.

Ashley Schulten, a director at US-based investment giant BlackRock added: “This is a good example for green bond issuance and will help support the development of this important market.”

Last month Barclays pledged to invest at least £1 billion in green bonds by November next year.