Paving the Path

Lessons from Chile’s Experiences as a Sovereign Issuer for Sustainable Finance Action

Sovereign Debt
ESG
World Bank
Sustainability
Chile
Latin America
Green Bonds
As part of a team including former Chilean Finance Minister, Felipe Larrain, we distilled lessons learned from Chile’s experience issuing sovereign green bonds. The paper provides practical insights for emerging market Debt Management Offices (DMOs) navigating green finance.
Authors
Affiliations

Sebastien Boitreaud

World Bank

Teal Emery

World Bank

Clapes UC

Bryan Gurhy

World Bank

Clapes UC

Cindy Paladines

World Bank

Published

May 24, 2021

Image of report cover

Image Credit: World Bank

Download the report here.

Abstract

Climate risks are on the rise globally. For emerging market countries such as Chile, these risks can manifest as an increased propensity for drought, wildfires, flood events, and landslides. As a result, governments are increasingly prioritizing policy solutions that will support an economic transition to mitigate the impact of climate change while also supporting households and communities as they adapt to the changing risk landscape. The financial sector is playing a key role in supporting a just economic transition. For many emerging market countries, the sovereign is the largest issuer of domestic debt, and the instruments and issuance path they choose can be key toward influencing downstream financial sector activity. For their part, global investors are becoming more attuned to the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors that underpin sovereign debt instruments. This report explores Chile’s sovereign issuer options, opportunities, and challenges through the lens of its recent decisions to issue green, social, and sustainable debt instruments.

Citation Information

Citation

BibTeX citation:
@report{boitreaud2021,
  author = {Boitreaud, Sebastien and Emery, Teal and Gonzales, Luis and
    Gurhy, Bryan and Larrain, Felipe and Paladines, Cindy},
  publisher = {World Bank},
  title = {Paving the {Path}},
  date = {2021-05-24},
  url = {https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/459991621583141166/pdf/Paving-the-Path-Lessons-from-Chile-s-Experiences-as-a-Sovereign-Issuer-for-Sustainable-Finance-Action.pdf},
  langid = {en}
}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
Boitreaud, Sebastien, Teal Emery, Luis Gonzales, Bryan Gurhy, Felipe Larrain, and Cindy Paladines. 2021. “Paving the Path.” World Bank. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/459991621583141166/pdf/Paving-the-Path-Lessons-from-Chile-s-Experiences-as-a-Sovereign-Issuer-for-Sustainable-Finance-Action.pdf.