Sustainability bonds, or “SDG bonds”, are fixed-income investments that can help bridge the SDG financing gap in developing countries. Specifically developed (and explicitly labelled) to fund projects that have positive social or environmental benefits, SDG bonds to date have mostly comprised green bonds (bonds with an environmental or climate-related focus) – with more than USD$100 billion issued in 2017. With the growth of this sector, there is also an increasing diversification of issuers and types of green projects for which the proceeds of the bonds are used. Lessons learned in the green bond space are being applied to other SDG bonds, such as water bonds and gender bonds. This high-level session, organized with the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), will contribute to peer learning.
Issues for the debate
- What role can stock exchanges play in the SDG bond space? Experiences promoting sustainability bonds or developing-listing segments for sustainability bonds.
- What roles do reporting and assurance play in the further development of an SDG-oriented debt market?
- Beyond green bonds, what opportunities exist for other SDG bonds? Experiences from the development of gender bonds and water bonds.
Speaker(s)
