Ahren Lester

Goldman Sachs readies emerging markets green, social bond ETF launch

Saudi Arabia raises €1.5bn from 'testing' debut sovereign green bond

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has issued its debut sovereign green bond with the €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) tranche the first euro-denominated sustainable bond from a Middle Eastern sovereign.

Sustainable bond fund universe expands to 126 in 2024

The number of specialised labelled sustainable bond funds grew by 12% in 2024, despite fund closures, Ahren Lester reports

NaFin issues 'pioneering' Mexican Taxonomy-aligned sustainable bond

Mexican development bank Nacional Financiera (NaFin) has raised MXN12.2 billion ($596 million) from a sustainability bond, becoming one of the first transactions to have aligned with the Mexican Taxonomy.

Sustainable Fitch: Majority of sustainable finance frameworks 'excellent'

Sustainable Fitch said that the majority of the use-of-proceeds (UoP) sustainable finance frameworks it assessed over the last year were judged 'Excellent,' but there remains room for improvement, including around increasing the level of specificity on social projects.

'Outcomes-based bonds are scalable - but must tread a fine path,' says L&G

Outcomes-based bonds are set to continue to grow, according to Legal & General (L&G) - but they require a delicate balance between ambitious outcomes and appealing income.

Canada to issue third green bond

Canada is planning to issue its third Canadian dollar-denominated sovereign green bond this week, as it looks to finalise its CAD4 billion ($2.8 billion) annual green bond fundraising before the end of March.

€2bn Enel deal boosts slow SLB market

Italian energy firm Enel has raised €2 billion ($2.1 billion) from its first sustainability-linked bond (SLB) of 2025, in a deal that doubled the amount raised via the struggling performance-based instrument this year.

L&G: 'Quirky' debt-for-nature swaps becoming 'more digestible' for investors

Institutional investors are increasingly able to incorporate unusually structured debt-for-nature swaps into their debt allocation, but Legal & General (L&G) said further simplification and reporting improvements are needed as the market scales.

ING: SLB market 'reinvigoration' awaits after initial 'exuberance' evaporates

The contrasting experience of the sustainability-linked loan and bond issuance continued in 2024, but ING said more quality data and "realistic" target approaches should see loan market continue to grow and bonds to finally begin to reverse declines.