THE Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has stated its commitment to promoting the development of sustainable financial products that take into account the financial risks and opportunities linked with climate change and other environmental issues.
Temi Popoola, NGX’s Chief Executive Officer, while speaking to participants at a training on the issuance of sustainable financial instruments organized by the exchange in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) said the exchange was poised to promote the development of a sustainable finance market across the ecosystem.
He claimed that the exchange has championed advocacy in partnership with the government and industry stakeholders, culminating in the issue of the first N10.69 billion (c. $25.8 million) green bond in 2016 and a 13.48 percent 5-year green bond in 2017.
According to him, this is in acknowledgement of the urgent need for climate funding, particularly in Nigeria, as well as the Paris Agreement’s need for rapid action to tackle climate change.
“We are pleased to continue our collaboration with Nigerian Exchange globally recognised institutions such as IFC and CBI to share valuable experiences and best practices on green finance, and promote the development of a sustainable finance market across our ecosystem”.
Denise Odaro, Global Head, Investor Relations, IFC, also spoke at the training event, saying that green bonds are an important aspect of improving sustainability since they facilitate sustainable investments and innovative financing.
She claimed that IFC, as a partner in the development of green bond issuance, played a critical role in catalyzing the market and unlocking investment for private sector projects that support renewable energy and energy efficiency when it launched a green bond program in 2010 to help catalyze the market and unlock investment for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
Since then, she stated that, IFC has issued 178 green bonds in over 20 currencies, totaling over US$10.5 billion.
“We continue to support our partners, such as the Nigerian Exchange, to provide the right knowledge, tools, and contribute to creating enabling conditions for green, social and sustainability issues.”
He went on to say that the synergy is a continuation of NGX and IFC’s work on promoting sustainable financing across the Nigerian capital market as part of IFC’s REGIO Technical Assistance Program for Africa, and that it builds on a similar training held in December 2021.
The training, titled ‘Deep Dive in Green, Social, and Sustainability Bonds Issuance,’ is sponsored by the Kingdom of Netherlands and HSBC and delivered by Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI). It is the second in a series of events aimed at increasing awareness of sustainable financial products, particularly green bonds, in Nigeria.
NGX and IFC shared best practices in sustainable finance issuance at the training, and educated potential issuers on the unique characteristics of green social and sustainable bonds, as well as the specific benefits of each instrument and the detailed step-by-step process for issuing these instruments.
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