Guidance Handbook and Q&A

Guidance Handbook

Since the original publication of the Green Bond Principles (GBP) in 2014, and the subsequent releases of the Social Bond Principles (SBP) and Sustainability Bond Guidelines (SBG), the Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles (SLBP) and the Climate Transition Finance Handbook, market participants have sought additional information on how to interpret this guidance especially for its practical application for transactions, as well as in the context of market developments and complementary initiatives.

The Executive Committee with the support of the Secretariat published in June 2019 an up-to-date edited compendium of the former Q&A in a “Guidance Handbook” organised thematically. The version published in June 2021 reflects the publication of the newly established SLBP and the Climate Transition Finance Handbook, as well as updated versions of the GBP, SBP, and SBG, published in 2021 and contains additional responses relating to sustainability-linked bonds and climate transition finance. An updated version published in January 2022 has refined the answer to the question on buying back conventional Green, Social or Sustainability Bonds with proceeds of a new Green Social or Sustainability bond and moved it from the section “Use of Proceeds” to the section “Management of Proceeds”. The question, previously numbered, 2.1.2 is now 2.2.4.

The table of content covers 6 sections:

Fundamentals,
Core Components of the GBP/SBP/SLBP,
Market and Technical Issues,
Governance & Membership,
Other Market and Official Sector Initiatives, and
Social Bonds related to COVID-19.

Following the publication of the Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles (SLBP) in June 2020 and the Climate Transition Finance Handbook in December 2020, dedicated Q&A documents were released to further guide market participants. The Guidance Handbook has been updated accordingly.

Translations of the Guidance Handbook

Chinese
中文