Today marked the release of Environmental Finance’s Sustainable Debt Awards winner's list for 2024. Previously known as the Environmental Finance Bond Awards, every year, this initiative seeks to recognise institutions that excel, innovate, and contribute to the successful development of the sustainable debt market. The winners of the different categories are recognised for their thought-leadership, best practice, and innovative initiatives in the field of sustainable finance throughout 2023.

After an important year of strengthening sustainable finance in emerging markets and advancing financing for gender equality, LuxSE was named ‘Exchange of the Year’ for its work in these important areas of sustainable development. This makes the exchange a 7-time winner of Environmental Finance’s debt-related ‘Exchange of the Year’ title since 2017.

“Contributing to closing the gaps in financing for sustainable development in emerging markets and gender equality were key drivers for the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in 2023, shaping many of the initiatives we implemented, the securities we displayed and cooperations that we entered into. Addressing these gaps will play a key role in defining whether the goals set out in the Paris Agreement and by the UN SDGs are met or missed and so it is an honour to have our efforts in these areas recognised once more by Environmental Finance,” said Julie Becker, CEO of LuxSE.

Advancing financing for women

Throughout 2023, LuxSE continued to foster awareness of the importance of gender finance and gender-lens investing by releasing a number of important resources in the market – including a market study entitled ‘Linking gender and finance: An overview of the gender-focused bond market’ and a 2-hour LGX Academy module on ‘How capital markets contribute to the growth of gender finance’. In the module’s first session in the summer of 2023, 50 participants gained a deeper understanding of the scope and state of the gender-focused bond market and how they can contribute to improving gender equality through their financial strategies and investment decisions.

LuxSE continues to flag gender-focused bonds displayed on LGX, to make it easier for investors to identify investment opportunities which contribute to gender equality goals. At year end, there were more than 60 gender-focused bonds on LGX, including the first gender bond from Sub-Saharan Africa issued by NMB Bank Plc in Tanzania, providing up to 3,000 women in Tanzania with access to the financing needed to start or grow their own business.

Focus on emerging markets

In 2023, LuxSE entered into new and complementary cooperation agreements with counterparts in emerging markets such as Chongwa (Macao) Financial Asset Exchange Co., Ltd (MOX), China Everbright Bank, the Abu Dhabi Exchange, and Bolsa de Valores de Cabo Verde (BVC) to advance the sustainable finance agenda in new regions.

Education also remained a key focus for LuxSE’s sustainable finance experts, with LGX Academy trainings taking place in China, the Ivory Coast and Sri Lanka. LuxSE also co-organised the International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s 3-day Green Bond Technical Assistance Programme (GB TAP) named Green, Social and Sustainability (GSS) Bonds Executive Programme in Luxembourg in November 2023, which gathered almost 30 senior bankers from about 20 different emerging economies with the objective of fostering the supply of sustainable bonds in new markets. 

The LGX DataHub, LuxSE’s sustainable bond database, also continued to gain international recognition and was used as a data source by leading institutions such as the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Reaching the first trillion

As of 31 December 2023, LGX encompassed 1,874 green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked (GSSS) bonds from 309 issuers in 59 countries, totalling EUR 977+ billion in funding for sustainable development throughout the world. This included a total of 554 new GSSS bonds on LGX in 2023, raising a total of EUR 207 billion.

In February 2024, LGX reached its largest milestone to date – counting EUR 1 trillion worth of outstanding GSSS bonds on the platform.