Ahren Lester

Azerbaijan, IFC sustainable taxonomy 'roadmap' to launch at COP29

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan and International Finance Corporation (IFC) are set to publish a sustainable finance taxonomy "roadmap" to encourage interoperability between the rapidly growing number of national 'green lists' in development.

Invesco 'blown away' by demand for climate adaptation blended finance fund

Invesco said it has been "blown away" by the early institutional investor demand for its ground-breaking emerging market (EM) climate adaptation blended finance fund, including from North America.

South Korea 'reviewing' return to sovereign green bond market

The government of South Korea is currently considering the possibility of issuing another sovereign green bond, three years after its last issuance.

Barclays: 'Surprising' rise in principal repayment penalty SLBs

There has been a "surprising" increase in the use of penalties applied to the principal repayment at maturity for sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs), according to Barclays - a move that it said could make the struggling instrument "less appealing" to investors.

M&G launch €50m sustainable bond fund

Sustainable sukuk a 'potential accelerator' for Islamic finance industry

Record sustainable sukuk issuance points to the catalytic potential of the market for interest in Islamic finance, S&P Global Ratings Mohamed Damak tells Ahren Lester

Investors 'sick' of SFDR eating into sustainability innovation resource

Investors are "sick" of the onerous EU reporting and disclosure regulation stifling their ability to invest in innovation around sustainable finance, attendees at last week's Environmental Finance Sustainability Data EMEA conference heard.

QNB issues 'first' blue bond in Turkiye

QNB Türkiye has raised $125 million from a sustainable bond that includes a ground-breaking 'blue bond' tranche, becoming the first Turkish issuer to come to market with a sustainable water-focused deal.

HKMC issues largest social bond in Asia Pacific

Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation (HKMC) has raised around $3 billion from its third social bond transaction, becoming the largest social bond deal in Asia Pacific to date.

Current scenario analysis 'not decision useful' for pension funds - for now

High-level climate scenario analysis is not currently used by pension funds to inform investment decisions, an Environmental Finance event heard - but there are ways more focused and short-term scenarios that can be useful now and in the future.