The Environmental Finance Bond Awards celebrates every year the leading green, social and sustainability bond deals and leading market participants.

2020 Bond Awards have new categories for green, social and sustainability (GSS) loans: Award for Innovation – Bond Structure, Loan Structurer/Arranger/Coordinator, Impact Report of the Year for Investors; and Green, Social and Sustainability Loan of the Year.

In total 49 awards were handed out, with winners spanning the globe, from Japan to Quebec, and Chile to Norway.

In the Latin American and Caribbean region there are multiple award winners:

• Sustainability bond of the year – bank: Bancolombia. Grupo Bancolombia issued a 657 billion Colombian pesos ($185 million) sustainability bond, which was bought in its entirety by IDB Invest. It was the first time a private bank in Colombia has issued a sustainability bond.
• Green bond of the year, sovereign: Republic of Chile. The Republic of Chile issued an €861 million ($950 million) of 12-year green bonds in June 2019, becoming the first-ever sovereign Euro green bond issuer in the Americas.
• Social bond of the year, sovereign, and Award for innovation – bond structure (social): Republic of Ecuador. The Republic of Ecuador issued the first social bond as a sovereign bond, raising $400 million. The deal benefited from a partial credit guarantee from the AAA rated Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the first time it had issued such a guarantee on any capital markets transaction.The proceeds of the bond were to be allocated to a trust established for the purpose of financing Ecuador’s “Housing for All” social housing project, which aims to address Ecuador’s housing deficit by providing quality, sustainable and affordable housing.