October 2023
Leveraging SLBs to Advance Governments’ Sustainability Agendas
HPL Analyst, Brenda Aguilar, authored a blog post on how sovereign issuers can leverage Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs) to drive their sustainability agenda. The article discusses the SLB Principles (SLBP) and their relevance to sovereign issuers, sovereign SLBs in the Emerging Markets (EM), the complementarity of SLBs to Green, Social and Sustainability (GSS) sovereign bonds, and ways to further scale the market.
August 2023
Blue Bonds: Empowering Water Conservation, Gaining Market Momentum
HPL Associate, Alice Balbé, authored a blog post regarding the growing significance of blue bonds as a financial instrument to support the conservation efforts of our most essential resource, water. The article covers various key aspects, starting with an introduction to finance and the blue economy, followed by a review on blue bonds’ market guidance and definitions. Alice also explains the importance of a blue label to further promote these bonds and summarizes the performance and numbers of blue bonds over time. This financial instrument is gaining momentum and can bring environmental, social and economic benefits while protecting and preserving water.
January 2023
Publication: Green Bonds in the Water and Sanitation Sector in Colombia (in Spanish)
HPL Consultants, María Teresa Grez, Yvonne Vogt, and Valeria Cantú, co-authored a report alongside the Inter-American Development Bank regarding the issuance of green bonds in the water and sanitation sector in Colombia. The report presents the opportunities of issuing green bonds within the water and sanitation sector by highlighting the consultancy that HPL led with two public water companies in Colombia in their preparation of a Green Financing Framework.
February 23rd, 2022
Publication: Practical guide to innovative financial instruments for the water and sanitation sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (in Spanish)
In collaboration with the Water & Sanitation team of the Inter-American Development Bank, HPL drafted a practical guidance document on innovative financing instruments and mechanisms that water and sanitation companies in LAC could use as an alternative or complement to their traditional financing sources. The Guide delves into these instruments' added value, explains their concept and implementation process, and offers practical recommendations on their structuring, as well as representative case studies that exemplify their application by other entities in the sector in LAC and globally.
May 26th, 2021
Publication: Financing Sustainability through Capital Markets - A Practitioner's Guide and Toolkit for Thematic Bonds
Alongside IDB Invest, HPL co-authored a Thematic Bonds Guide, which provides a roadmap for banks and companies in Latin America and the Caribbean looking to integrate ESG investing into their business strategies. The report outlines the five key steps companies can undertake for structuring thematic bonds. The guide is avaialble for download in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
April 19th, 2021
Publication: Guide for Voluntary Reporting and Disclosure of Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Factors
Alongside IDB Invest, HPL developed a Guide for Voluntary Reporting and Disclosure of ESG Factors for Latinex: Bolsa Latinoamericana de Valores (Panama's Stock Exchange). The objective of this project was to influence the corporate sector of the country to implement sustainability practices; to inform investor decision making; and create a benchmark that could overtime be adopted by the regulator as national best practice. The guide is avaialble for download in English, and Spanish.
December 17th, 2020
Blog Post: ESG Factors - How Emerging Markets Can Benefit
This blog post, co-authored by Isabel Montojo, Associate at HPL; Olga Cantillo, CEO Bolsa de Valores de Panama; and Susana del Granada, Environmental and Social Officer IDB Invest, explores how disclosure and transparency on the management of ESG factors provide companies with added value, as many investors are building investment portfolios with ESG factors where only companies that meet certain criteria are eligible.
(Image Source: Schroders)
December 8th, 2020
Blog Post: ESG Factors - What's in it for you if you are in the Emerging Markets?
This blog post, co-authored by Isabel Montojo, Associate at HPL; Olga Cantillo, CEO Bolsa de Valores de Panama; and Susana Del Granado, Environmental and Social Officer IDB Invest, explores the role of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure in the emerging markets.
November 11th, 2020
Blog Post: The Critical Role of the Debt Market in COVID-19 Response and Recovery
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented situation that is severely impacting the daily lives of millions of people globally. In addition to health repercussions, economies and livelihoods all over the world are being challenged by changes in both supply and demand. Governments have scrambled to prepare fiscal stimulus packages and inject liquidity to keep economies afloat.
2020 has seen an explosion of fixed-income instruments, such as pandemic bonds and COVID-19-response bonds, as well social and sustainability bonds with coronavirus response use of proceeds. In order to uncover some market trends regarding these new instruments, HPL collected a representative sample of 100 thematic transactions representing USD 165 bn of social, sustainability, and other coronavirus related bonds issuances.
June 10th, 2020
Blog Post: Innovating Conservation Finance
Biodiversity is a key element to our natural world and the increased agitation of ecosystems in the last decade has posed a significant threat on natural areas and their vast contributions. While most conservation efforts have been funded solely by philanthropic efforts and grants in the past, there has been an emergence of innovative conservation finance instruments. Conservation finance is an emerging field that can unlock private capital and help to continuously scale conservation projects in ways that grants and donations cannot. In this thought leadership, we discuss examples of conservation finance instruments, the different stakeholders involved, and the common themes we have observed in this space.