A recent post on the IDB Invest blog discusses trends in the sustainable debt market in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, including social, green, sustainable or sustainability-linked bonds (known as VSS+ bonds). The authors state that the sustainable thematic debt market may be crucial to attract capital to develop technologies involving low carbon emissions and policies and programs to bridge the social gap.

The LAC region is moving towards greater geographic diversification in the sustainable debt market, with the participation of more than 20 countries among issuers. The largest VSS+ bonds issuers in the region are Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.

The main trends in the regional sustainable debt market include: i) use of proceeds for adaptation and resilience; ii) taxonomies; iii) increasing relevance of sustainability-linked bonds (SLB); and iv) gender focus.

The IDB Group has supported 86 sustainable debt issuers for an amount close to 45 billion dollars (equivalent to 27% of the total sustainable debt in the region), demonstrating its commitment to the development of sustainable financing markets in LAC region and capability-building in relevant market stakeholders.