About
The Sustainability Bond Guidelines are closely linked to the Green Bonds Principles and the Social Bond Principles (together referred to as the 'Principles').
Sustainability Bonds are bonds where the proceeds will be exclusively applied to finance or re-finance a combination of both 'Green' and 'Social Projects', and which are aligned with the four core components of the Green Bonds Principles and/or the Social Bond Principles:
- Use of Proceeds
- Process for Project Evaluation and Selection
- Management of Proceeds
- Reporting
The Sustainability Bond Guidelines are voluntary process guidelines targeting issuers of 'Sustainability Bonds', which have been designed to confirm the relevance of the Principles. The Sustainability Bond Guidelines intend to facilitate the application of the Principles' guidance on transparency, disclosure and reporting to the Sustainability Bond market, and thereby facilitate the availability of information for the review and evaluation by relevant actions such as investors and underwriters.
Who does it impact?
Bond issuers and other actors in the international bond market.
Status: Launched
In force and updated on a regular basis.
The latest updated edition of the Principles is from June 2021.
Relation to other initiatives and regulations
The Sustainability Bond Guidelines are drafted by the International Capital Market Association and are closely connected to the Green Bond Principles, the Social Bond Principles and the EU Green Bond Standard.
Participants
Membership is open to organisations that have issued, underwritten or placed, or invested in a Green, Social or Sustainability Bond.
Thommessen's comments
The Sustainability Bond Guidelines, together with the Green Bond Principles and the Social Bond Principles, have become the globally leading framework for issuance of green, social and sustainability bonds.
In our view, the bond markets can contribute in allocating private capital to projects that are beneficial to the environment and/or projects with positive social outcomes.