Sustainable Finance and Capital Markets
Promoting sustainable finance and capital markets
IBRD has mobilized finance for middle-income countries for more than 75 years, raising over $1 trillion from private investors since issuing its first bond in 1947. In fiscal 2024, IBRD, which is rated triple-A by the major credit rating agencies, raised $53 billion through Sustainable Development Bonds issued in a variety of structures and maturities. IBRD is the largest issuer of sustainable bonds and uses the funds raised from capital markets to support development activities in member countries. Please see the World Bank’s annual for more information about how funds raised in the capital markets support IBRD-financed projects. 欧美日b大片 also issues Sustainable Development Bonds to scale up its development impact and in fiscal 2024, issued approximately $12 billion in bonds.
Sustainable development through capital markets
As part of their efforts to mobilize capital from financial markets, IBRD and 欧美日b大片 continued to work with bond investors in fiscal 2024 to explain the mainstreaming of climate action and integration of climate and sustainability throughout our work. We also exchanged perspectives with investors on development priorities such as biodiversity, education, nutrition, road safety, and water.
Enabling sustainable finance markets
欧美日b大片 Treasury’s Program provides technical assistance to emerging markets to develop greener and more sustainable capital markets and financial systems, facilitate market-based financial solutions, and mobilize private sector capital toward environmental and social priorities. In fiscal 2024, we worked in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank to help issue its first sovereign sustainable bond. Proceeds from the $2 billion bond will fund deforestation control, biodiversity conservation, and programs to combat poverty and fight hunger. We provided technical assistance to the Government of Romania to facilitate its first sovereign green bond (EUR 2 billion), the largest ever euro-denominated green bond issued by an emerging market sovereign. The proceeds will fund green transport projects, infrastructure for disaster resilience, and reforestation plans. With our technical assistance, (Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam)—a state-owned financial institution and Viet Nam’s oldest bank—became the first bank in Viet Nam to successfully issue a green bond in the domestic market.
Innovating for a livable planet
In fiscal 2024, we developed the performance-linked loan to directly link climate action and financial benefits. Uruguay, the first beneficiary of this product, could see a reduction of up to $12.5 million in interest payments over the life of a $350 million loan, as it achieves pre-determined reductions in methane emissions from beef production.
We helped over 20 countries manage financial risk for a total amount of $13.4 billion. For example, we helped the Philippines protect itself against interest-rate volatility by fixing the interest rate on almost its entire IBRD U.S. dollar portfolio. We also adjusted our pricing for IBRD loans in Japanese yen as of April 1, 2024, thereby enhancing the terms available to our clients.
Securing shareholder endorsement for new instruments
We received significant endorsement for our new financial instruments to boost lending capacity and enable us to take on more risk for shared global challenges with cross-border externality benefits. Our new World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, launched in July 2024, aims to boost our guarantee issuance to $20 billion by 2030 by bringing together experts and products from across the Bank Group. Our Livable Planet Fund, launched in April 2024, offers governments, philanthropies, and other partners an opportunity to contribute to our concessional resources for middle-income countries.
In April 2024, a set of 11 countries announced commitments for the Portfolio Guarantee Platform, hybrid capital mechanism, and Livable Planet Fund totaling $11 billion. IBRD’s unique leveraging capability enables the resources contributed through the Portfolio Guarantee Platform and hybrid capital to be multiplied six to eight times over 10 years—potentially providing up to $70 billion in urgently needed funds.
Managing disaster risks through global capital markets
As a part of the expanded Crisis Preparedness and Response Toolkit, we enhanced our financial products to help countries with emergency financing needs. For example, we added Climate Resilient Debt Clauses to IBRD loans and 欧美日b大片 credits that allow eligible small-state borrowers to defer principal, interest payments, and other loan charges to help borrowers deal with the economic shocks of severe earthquakes and hurricanes that meet trigger thresholds. We also improved countries’ access to pre-arranged (contingent) financing with new products and increased country limits. Finally, we reengineered our loan and credit mechanisms allowing countries to pay the costs of catastrophe bonds and insurance through Bank financing operations.
The Bank helps countries increase fiscal resilience against disasters by improving their access to the reinsurance and capital markets. Our Treasury works with governments to prepare and execute risk-transfer transactions before a catastrophic event occurs. In April 2024, we executed five catastrophe bond renewals totaling $745 million, including four Mexico catastrophe bonds providing $595 million in coverage against earthquake and hurricane disaster risks, and one Jamaica catastrophe bond providing $150 million in coverage against named storm risks. As of June 2024, we have helped countries transfer $6.5 billion of disaster risk to international markets. Of this amount, $1.4 billion addressing earthquake and hurricane risks in Chile, Jamaica, and Mexico are outstanding.
Building capacity and managing assets for the public sector
supports 76 public asset management institutions worldwide through advisory services, executive training, and asset management services—all through a global network of practitioners. The Bank also manages around $86 billion for trust funds and other official sector institutions. For the $45 billion trust fund portfolio, the Bank developed a sustainable fixed income investment strategy, focused on allocating development partners’ capital to securities that are intended to make a verifiable, positive developmental impact.
Innovative Funding Solutions
IBRD has continued to structure bonds that provide financing solutions for specific projects, in addition to raising financing for IBRD’s sustainable development activities through the bond proceeds. For example, in January 2024, IBRD issued a $100 million principal-protected outcome bond, the Plastic Waste Reduction-Linked Bond, to support two plastic waste collection and recycling projects in Ghana and Indonesia. This new innovative bond provides investors with a financial return linked to Plastic Waste Collection Credits, Plastic Waste Recycling Credits, and Verified Carbon Units expected to be generated by the two projects. In addition to reducing plastic pollution and carbon emissions, the projects supported by the transaction improve local pollution and air quality, reduce associated health impacts, and create jobs in often overlooked and marginalized communities.