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The report provides a comprehensive overview of Peru's sustainable finance landscape, detailing the growth of Green, Social, and Sustainability (VSS+) bonds. It highlights Peru's role as a regional pioneer, starting with the first green bond in Latin America in 2014, and examines the current market composition where sustainable bonds dominate. The document identifies significant investment gaps in infrastructure, water management, and low-carbon transport, while outlining a roadmap for growth involving key public and private stakeholders. It also addresses systemic barriers such as low market liquidity, currency risk, and the need for a national green taxonomy.

The report analyzes Peru's sustainable finance landscape, noting that while it was a regional pioneer with the first green bond in 2014, its GSS+ market has expanded more slowly than its peers. As of April 2022, the market reached approximately USD 6.6bn across 16 deals, dominated by sovereign sustainability bonds. The document identifies significant investment gaps in infrastructure (USD 110bn) and sanitation (USD 22bn), while highlighting opportunities in renewable energy, low-carbon agriculture, and nature-based solutions. It outlines structural barriers such as low market liquidity, currency hedging challenges, and political instability, and recommends the development of a national green finance taxonomy by 2025 to provide clarity and attract capital.

The report argues that the EU steel sector faces a critical investment window as 74% of blast furnace capacity requires renewal by 2030. It advocates for a combination of carbon pricing, circular economy measures, and innovative finance tools like Carbon Contracts for Difference (CCfDs) to scale low-carbon technologies such as green hydrogen and Direct Reduced Iron (DRI). The document emphasizes that while public funds are insufficient, the green bond market and transition finance instruments can mobilize the necessary private capital, provided there are science-based standards to prevent greenwashing.

The ASEAN+3 sustainable debt market reached USD 449 billion by Q3 2021, driven largely by the People's Republic of China, Japan, and Hong Kong, China. While green bonds remain dominant, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the issuance of social and sustainability-labeled instruments. Local currency (LCY) issuance represents 64% of the region's total sustainable debt, though this is unevenly distributed; Thailand has the highest LCY share at 98.5%, while Viet Nam and Indonesia rely heavily on foreign currencies. The report identifies barriers such as lack of market awareness, high transaction costs for small deals, and a shortage of bankable green projects. It recommends increasing sovereign GSS bond issuance, expanding the investor base through ETFs and indices, and establishing centralized sustainable finance platforms to improve project visibility.

China's green bond market experienced record growth in 2021, driven by the nation's '30·60' climate targets and the 14th Five-Year Plan. Annual issuance aligned with Climate Bonds definitions reached USD 68.2 billion, making China the second largest green bond market globally. The market saw a significant shift as non-financial corporates became the primary source of supply, overtaking financial corporates. Over 60% of the use-of-proceeds was directed toward renewable energy. The report also highlights the emergence of carbon neutrality bonds and transition finance as key tools for decarbonizing high-emitting sectors.

The 2021 Chinese green bond market experienced significant growth, with total labeled issuances reaching $109.5 billion. Non-financial enterprises became the dominant issuer type for the first time, and over 60% of funds were directed toward renewable energy. While the market is expanding rapidly, the report highlights a continued reliance on state-owned enterprises and a need for improved transparency and transition finance frameworks to meet long-term climate targets.

The Indian GSS debt market experienced significant growth in 2021, reaching a cumulative volume of USD 19.5 billion, with green bonds dominating the landscape. While the market is primarily driven by non-financial corporates and focused on utility-scale renewable energy, there is emerging activity in sustainability-linked bonds and potential for expansion into electric vehicles, waste management, and climate-smart agriculture. The Indian government is supporting this growth through the Ministry of Finance's Sustainable Finance Task Force and the planned issuance of a domestic sovereign green bond in 2022.

The report analyzes the 2021 Chinese green bond market, which saw a sharp rebound with USD 109.4bn in total issuance. It highlights the role of top-down policy guidance, such as the Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue (2021 Edition), in standardizing the market and aligning it with international principles. The analysis finds a positive correlation between local policy efficacy scores and the volume of green bond issuance, particularly in economically developed regions like the Yangtze and Pearl River Deltas. However, stakeholders identify challenges including inadequate information disclosure and a lack of issuer experience in identifying green assets. The report recommends strengthening disclosure standards, developing transition finance frameworks, and expanding innovative products like sustainability-linked bonds to support high-emitting sectors.

The 2021 China Green Bond Investor Survey reveals a strong demand for high-quality green bonds, particularly in renewable energy and low-carbon transport. While investors value green credentials and credit fundamentals, they highlight significant gaps in transparency and post-issuance disclosure. International investors face barriers related to market access and regulatory quotas. The report emphasizes the need for standardized green definitions aligned with international benchmarks and the adoption of TCFD recommendations to enhance market integrity and attract global capital.

The report examines China's green finance landscape in 2021, highlighting the role of top-down policies in driving the green bond market. It identifies a positive correlation between regional policy stimulus and bond issuance volumes, while noting that economic disparities limit policy effectiveness in less developed provinces. The document also analyzes the alignment of Chinese green bonds with international standards and provides recommendations for improving information disclosure and developing transition finance.

The report examines the global trend of establishing green taxonomies to define sustainable economic activities and reduce 'greenwashing'. It details three primary methodology types: whitelist-based, technical screening criteria-based, and principle-based. A significant portion of the document compares the EU's six-objective framework with China's three-objective system, highlighting the 'Common Ground Taxonomy' as a tool to improve interoperability between the two markets. The report concludes that while taxonomies are essential for product development and risk management, challenges remain regarding data quality and the need to incorporate transition guidelines for high-emission industries.

The Mokoloki undergrid minigrid project in Ogun State, Nigeria, has demonstrated the feasibility of providing reliable solar power to communities that are connected to the national grid but suffer from unreliable supply. Through a tripartite partnership between the Mokoloki community, Nayo Tropical Technology, and the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), the project has achieved 100% collection rates and doubled its revenue within 18 months. The system, comprising 100 kWp solar PV and battery storage, has significantly improved energy reliability compared to the previous utility service and is driving local economic growth by supporting productive uses of electricity for commercial customers.

The document examines the failure of grant-based 'design, procure, install' models for electrifying public institutions, which often lead to premature system failure due to neglected operation and maintenance (O&M). It proposes a service-based model where private providers install and maintain systems over 10-15 years, with governments paying for performance verified by third parties. The brief identifies key barriers—including public sector affordability, private sector capital risks, and grid arrival—and presents case studies from Benin, Kenya, Niger, and Nigeria to demonstrate the model's potential.

The policy brief highlights how the current design of the residential solar investment tax credit (ITC 25D) disproportionately benefits high-income and White residents, as it requires federal income tax liability to be useful. RMI argues that transitioning to a 'direct pay' model—similar to proposed provisions for business-scale renewables—would enable over 100 million American households without sufficient tax liability to access incentives. Such a change would double the number of states where LMI families could use solar loans to reduce energy bills (from 19 to 38 states) and potentially generate an additional 1.2 GW of annual residential solar activity, creating over 26,400 jobs and $4 billion in economic activity within LMI communities.

The document argues that demand-side flexibility (DSF) is essential for integrating intermittent renewables and managing the electrification of transport, buildings, and industry. It highlights that while large industrial users have traditionally provided flexibility, residential and small business consumers have significant untapped potential through assets like electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps. Using the UK as a primary example, the brief identifies barriers such as inadequate economic signals and passive consumer behavior, and suggests enablers including smart metering, market reform, and digital aggregation platforms. For China, the authors recommend a 'hybrid approach' combining market-based pricing with administrative scheduling to transition away from a reliance on coal-fired power for system flexibility, while emphasizing the need for pilots to understand consumer preferences.

The Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) addresses the lack of consistency and ambition in transition finance by introducing a certification framework for corporate transitions. The proposal argues that for a company's transition to be credible, it must meet five criteria: alignment with the Paris Agreement, a robust plan, tangible action, internal oversight, and external reporting. The document suggests a three-tier labeling system (Green, Green Transition, and Transition Transition) and outlines a two-step assessment method for complex companies to ensure their overall performance aligns with global net-zero goals by 2050.

The Climate Bonds Initiative proposes a certification framework to ensure corporate transitions are aligned with the Paris Agreement. The framework focuses on five hallmarks: Paris-aligned goals, robust plans, implementation action, internal monitoring, and external reporting. It distinguishes between 'Green Transition' (already aligned) and 'Interim Transition' (catching up) to provide clarity for investors and prevent greenwashing in the growing market of Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs) and transition bonds.

The Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) outlines a proposal to certify 'credible' corporate transitions by requiring companies to meet five specific attributes: Paris-aligned goals, robust plans, implementation action, internal monitoring, and external reporting. This framework aims to bridge the gap between high-level market guidance and complex corporate assessment frameworks, providing a standardized, science-based approach to evaluate whether a company's transition is sufficiently ambitious and robust to align with global net-zero goals by 2050.

The Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) proposes a certification framework to ensure company decarbonisation is rapid and robust enough to align with the Paris Agreement. The proposal introduces five 'hallmarks' of a credibly transitioning company: Paris-aligned targets, robust plans, implementation action, internal monitoring, and external reporting. This framework aims to bridge the gap between light-touch market guidance and overly complex entity-level assessments. CBI suggests differentiating between 'Green Transition' (already aligned with sectoral pathways) and 'Interim Transition' (catching up, with a proposed grace period until 2025). The framework emphasizes absolute measures tied to common sectoral transition pathways over relative 'best-in-class' benchmarking and requires the inclusion of scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.

In 2020, China's green bond market saw a 21% decrease in total issuance to 289.5 billion RMB, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of pandemic-related bonds. Despite the decline, the market showed progress in aligning domestic standards with international ones, notably through the 2020 draft Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue which removed clean coal projects. Non-financial enterprises and government-supported institutions showed strong growth, while financial enterprise issuance declined. A significant gap remains between domestic and Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) definitions, primarily because some domestic bonds allow funds to be used for general corporate operating capital. The report also highlights a massive stock of unlabelled climate-related bonds, totaling 325 billion USD, primarily in the transport sector, presenting a major opportunity for future green labelling and refinancing.