REPORTS & DATA

The increasing urbanization in India, along with rising household incomes, has led to a surge in demand for residential properties. The study aims to identify the demand for green housing among lower-income groups, assess the supply value chain of green construction materials and financial products, analyze housing policy framework on green buildings and finance, and formulate appropriate products and strategies for penetrating the affordable green housing market and targeted customer segments.

As blue carbon projects are in high demand, a number of large buyers are willing to commit to forward carbon credit agreements and offer amenities, including premium prices and upfront payments. Mobilizing capital investments for conservation remains a primary obstacle to managing and restoring coastal blue carbon ecosystems. This report serves to assess current market trends around coastal blue carbon with a view to identifying ways to boost financing for conserving and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems.

Sustainable finance roadmaps are often the first step in the systematic development of sustainable financial markets, as they offer a holistic and consolidated approach. “SBFN Toolkit: Developing Sustainable Finance Roadmaps”, a practical, one-stop guidance document that provides Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN) members and other users with an easy-to-use tool to design and implement sustainable finance roadmaps. Roadmaps, as evidenced by SBFN members’ experience, are powerful instruments to bring together different market players, and align their efforts toward shaping sustainable financial systems.

Based on IFC’s well-established Corporate Governance Methodology, the Climate Governance Progression Matrix is a tool to assist Boards of Directors in identifying and overseeing climate-related risks and opportunities. It provides practical and progressive climate-related actions (from Basic Practices – Level 1 to Leadership – Level 4) for each of the six Parameters of the Corporate Governance Methodology.

To meet climate and development goals, low- and middle-income countries need to transform their power sector infrastructure at a scale and pace that is unprecedented. The World Bank framework “Scaling Up to Phase Down” maps out steps to support developing countries, with the help of development partners, to scale up affordable, secure, and reliable clean energy and phase down coal-fired electricity generation.

When a financial intermediary receives financing from lenders/investors, such lenders/investors may prescribe environmental and social requirements, typically resulting in requirements for the financial intermediary’s own clients which are then reflected in legal documentation. This publication provides an overview of common environmental and social contractual provisions and sample language for such provisions.

The investment decisions made by financial institutions play a crucial role in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, and yet quantifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts of investments and presenting the results in a transparent and comparable way is no easy task. This publication is a compilation of publicly available sources concerning the methodologies and tools available to guide financial institutions assess, set targets, and disclose GHG emissions.

Sustainability-Linked Bonds—an innovative debt product that incorporates incentivized sustainability targets—are becoming increasingly popular to encourage issuers to improve their sustainability performance. However, existing Sustainability-Linked Bond structures allow issuers to weaken the link between sustainability and financial outcomes, rendering Sustainability-Linked Bonds less effective. This policy research working paper examines two potential structural loopholes on this front: late target dates and call options. The results show that Sustainability-Linked Bonds with coupon step-up penalties, which constitute the majority and benefit most from such features, are more likely to have later target dates and call options embedded. Larger penalties are associated with a greater likelihood of late target dates but not call options, which instead tend to be favored primarily by speculative-grade issuers. The paper also provides evidence that issuers with high carbon dioxide emissions are more likely to resort to such structural loopholes. These findings suggest that Sustainability-Linked Bonds, despite incentivized targets, may be prone to greenwashing.

There is a growing focus on the need to effectively and rapidly shift capital toward sustainable solutions. However, key questions remain as to how investors, stakeholders, and decision-makers alike can best assess which companies, activities, or financial products are truly sustainable. And how can this information best be standardized across various contexts? IFC and CDP, a not-for-profit which runs the global environmental disclosure system, prepared a report analyzing the current state of best practices in environmental disclosure, examining more than 100 disclosure practices across developed and developing economies. The report, which was developed in consultation with the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (UN SSE), also highlights practical examples for developing high-quality regulation that addresses market needs and investor demands, helping to mobilize private capital flows towards sustainable solutions.

Unlocking opportunities to create a sustainable cooling strategy can help India in its post-COVID recovery by boosting investments, creating jobs, reducing emissions, and securing the supply chains of medical care products, health infrastructure as well as food. Anticipating the complex cooling energy trends and challenges facing India, in 2019, the government of India launched the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) to help provide sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all. This study focused on ICAP’s thematic cross-sectoral areas including space cooling in buildings, cold chain and refrigeration, transport air-conditioning and refrigerants. The analysis identifies eight key clustered opportunities where concessional finance can play a significant role in advancing the goals of ICAP and sustainable cooling in India.