The announcement was made at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid on Wednesday 11 December. The Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX) supports the initiative, and was present at the launch ceremony.

“LGX is proud to have been chosen by IDB as a partner to establish this innovative and extremely useful platform for the benefit of green bond investors worldwide. Green bonds play a crucial role in financing sustainable development projects, in Latin America and beyond, and cross-border collaboration is key,” commented Julie Becker, Member of the Executive Committee of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and Founder of the Luxembourg Green Exchange. “For the green bond market to keep growing, investors need access to transparent data, and reliable and verifiable reporting on the impact of green projects. This platform can make a difference in the Latin American market, and this is why we support it.“

Transparency first

The Green Bond Transparency Platform uses Blockchain (DLT) technology and is the first such tool to facilitate harmonised issuance reporting and verification. Issuers, investors and other market players can use the platform to share and research information on transaction details, bond performance and use of proceeds, and gain a detailed understanding of the environmental impacts of the region’s green bond issues. In this way, the platform will provide investors with relevant and consistent information on which to base their investment decisions. In parallel, the platform will give visibility to issuers of green investment projects and facilitate the disclosure and reporting process.

The platform is currently in its beta stage and set for official launch in 2020. Given its focus on transparency and comparability of data, it is expected to provide a greater level of confidence to current market participants and remove an important deterrent for the entrance of new market players requiring greater transparency and comparability than what is currently available in the market. The GBTP could become a model for green bond markets in other regions, and is supported by more than 30 public and private organisations worldwide, including LGX.

The Green Bond Transparency Platform is developed by the Inter-American Development Bank, a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean.