Farmland acquisition for transition agriculture has proved attractive to the climate-focused investment management franchises of large asset managers. Will real-asset investors follow suit?

Despite a year of high-profile issuance, all is not well in the sustainability-linked bond market. Teething problems could soon become an existential crisis, raising the risk that investors might decide to abandon the asset class altogether.

Social bonds could help deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals by driving private capital into essential services. But impact looks different from one place to the next, so how can issuers report it in a way that makes sense?

The increased corporate focus on environmental, social and governance issues is impacting treasury teams that can struggle to justify their initiatives.

The ISSB has published the final version of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, the inaugural sustainability disclosure standards. Now the real work begins – getting companies to start using them.

The green transition is boosting demand for key metals and Africa’s commodity markets are under pressure to increase extraction. But buyer awareness of Scope 3 emissions means that processes need to be cleaned up and fast.

Jordan Kuwait Bank has issued the country’s first green bond, a key milestone for sustainability driven capital investments in the country. But getting momentum going in the sector will be an uphill battle.

The French investment bank is taking a bet on a double-edged blockchain technology to stay ahead of both the tokenization and sustainability trends.

Standard Chartered’s new chief sustainability officer is not shying away from the reality of what the energy transition looks like in emerging markets.

Turkish airline Pegasus hopes an innovative funding solution tied to sustainability targets will help it increase capacity despite challenging market conditions.

Twinco Capital facilitates access to sustainable funding by focusing on pre-production finance.

Risk-sharing mechanisms could help drive confidence in the voluntary carbon market, but insurance products are scarce.

Pakistan has been trying to improve financial inclusion for the last 20 years with little success. Are new digital licences the answer?

Solar thermal technology could offer cheap carbon-free heat for manufacturers. But tech developers are stuck in a financing gap between venture capital and project finance that will be harder to fill after recent bank failures.

SLLs offer more flexibility for borrowers targeting sustainability, but the structure is coming under scrutiny around the world for potential greenwashing concerns.

Sustainability is now fundamental to all bank operations. Restructuring to make sure that the right people are in the right sustainability roles has been a challenge for some firms. Euromoney looks at what is needed to become a credible ESG leader.

Big transaction banks are responding to corporate customer demand for sustainability linked supplier-finance programmes by extending the geographical availability and range of the products they offer.

Just back from Davos, the bank’s new head of sustainable finance says the industry needs to do more, and Barclays needs to do more on transition.

The recent update to the green taxonomy and implementation of the SFDR RTS have received a mixed reception in parts of the EU.

Macroeconomic disruptions and regulatory scrutiny will drive market participants to adopt a practical environmental, social and governance strategy in the year ahead – one that is less about narrative and more about materiality.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt and its banks boast august credentials when it comes to climate and sustainability. But frameworks and agreements are one thing, creating substantive change across an entire financial sector is quite another.

COP27 placed green hydrogen production at the top of the global net-zero agenda. Banks want to fund this technology, but energy supply, cost and regulatory uncertainty are jeopardizing its future as the decarbonization solution for hard-to-abate sectors.

Three years ago, LTS Ventures was tasked with building a simple microfinance platform for Laos’s army of village banks and savings unions. It took off like a rocket, boosting financial inclusion, cutting fraud. Now the firm is eyeing fresh external funding and expansion across southeast Asia.

Strategies and financing need to be radically reassessed to achieve sustainability in a rapidly changing world.

Nearly all banks talk about corporate responsibility, few make it integral to the way they work. What sets Bank of America apart is that it has been doing just that for years and this year it receives the award for North America’s best bank for corporate responsibility.

Across every sector and region HSBC stands out for its commitment to developing partnerships and products that will bring finance at scale to create a more sustainable and resilient planet.

With its unique model of direct lending to microfinance institutions and bringing large investors to the table, BNP Paribas has put financial inclusion at the heart of its agenda.

Using its balance sheet to help the transition to net zero emissions, racial equality and economic mobility, while supporting employees through Covid-19 and assisting communities in all markets it operates in, Bank of America has put corporate responsibility at its core.

The breadth and ambition of Santander’s diversity and inclusion programmes set it apart from its peers globally.

When a big US bank joins its peers around the world under an umbrella of responsible banking, it lifts the entire responsibility agenda – and this is exactly what Citi has done as an early signatory to the Principles of Responsible Banking (PRB) of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative.